Education

Work on science education and the representation of scientists in the curriculum.

IncludeHer UK

Alongside co-authors, I have been working on IncludeHer UK, a study of who is named in UK science education syllabi for students aged 14–18 (Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5). We systematically reviewed exam board specifications across England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland to ask: which named scientists appear in the curriculum, how often are they mentioned, and are they credited as a concept (for example, Newton's laws) or as a scientist (a named individual)? We also recorded the gender, nationality, and regional background of each named person.

A journal article describing this work is in preparation. The accompanying data and analysis code are openly available on GitHub.

What we found

Across all exam boards surveyed, named scientists in UK science syllabi are overwhelmingly male. At GCSE level (ages 14–16), we identified 244 scientist mentions, of which only 1 credited a woman. At A-Level and Scottish Highers (ages 16–18), there were 489 mentions, with only 3 crediting women. When counting unique named individuals rather than total mentions, women account for fewer than 1% of scientists named at both key stages.

The study also examines whether scientists are named through laws and theories (concept mentions) or as individuals in their own right (scientist mentions), and compares the geographic origins of named scientists across key stages and exam boards.

Gender balance of unique named scientists in UK GCSE science syllabi by exam board

Unique named scientists by gender across GCSE / NQ5 exam boards (ages 14–16).

Gender balance of unique named scientists in UK A-Level science syllabi by exam board

Unique named scientists by gender across A-Level / Scottish Highers exam boards (ages 16–18).

Regional representation of named scientists across UK key stages

Regional representation of named scientists compared across Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5.

Data and interactive explorer

The IncludeHer UK repository contains the raw syllabus data, processed statistics, plotting scripts, and an interactive dashboard. The dashboard lets you filter by key stage, exam board, and chart type, hover over segments for counts and percentages, and click through to see every named scientist in a given group.

If you use this data or code, please cite the accompanying IncludeHer UK journal article (citation details to be added on publication).