Rural Girls in STEM Education: Perceptions, Participation and Future Career

The low participation of girls, particularly those living in rural areas in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in many countries across the world, has been a cause of concern for many stakeholders in the field. With the ratio of males to females in the fields of STEM almost always skewed in favour of males, this study sought to investigate the perceptions, participation and future career aspirations in STEM of girls living in rural areas in the Effutu Municipality of the Central Region of Ghana. The authors used a questionnaire to solicit the participants’ perceptions about their study of STEM. A focussed group interview was also employed to elicit the views of the girls on their participation in the study of STEM as well as future career plans they had towards further education in these disciplines. This was a qualitative study in which all 31 girls in three basic schools in the rural areas of the Municipality were purposely sampled to participate in the study. The findings revealed poor participation of the girls in their study of STEM, leading to negative perceptions towards the disciplines. However, the girls had positive future career plans towards STEM and related disciplines. The study recommends that the everyday experiences of learners should be inculcated into the teaching and learning of STEM, to contextualise concepts in order to encourage the learners’ active participation and interests. This could lead to positive perceptions towards learners’ study of STEM and continually motivate them to pursue STEM and related careers.

Keywords: students’ perception, students’ participation, future career, STEM, rural girls