When comparing the education budget in Turkey and OECD countries between 2000 and 2018, it is seen that Turkey's highest investment rate (4.18%) was in 2018, which still ranked third from the bottom among OECD countries (OECD, 2019). R&D and human resources managers with STEM graduates are taking initiatives to make sustainable decisions regarding the support for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education from this limited budget (Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen Association; TÜSİAD, 2017), as STEM education and skills are a very important issue for sustainable development in Turkey (Timur & Kurt, 2020). As senior executives from the public, private sector, and academia often argue, the country needs to produce high-value-added products and services to move from the middle-income level to the upper-income level and to reduce the current account deficit (TÜSİAD, 2014). Turkey must invest in STEM education to reach the national targets in Vision 2023 or Development Programmes (Aydagül & Terzioğlu, 2014).
Because of the limited financing, investments to be made in STEM must have a return in practice. For this reason, nurturing interest in a STEM career field and ensuring that students in this pipeline do not leak after budget cuts is a task of vital importance. There are interventions to nurture STEM careers in many countries of the world (Miller et al., 2018; Reinhold et al., 2018; Starr et al., 2022). Before implementing these interventions in Turkey, it is important to understand the variables associated with STEM career aspirations. Previous literature has offered a wealth of information on this issue (Kier & Blanchard, 2021; Nugent et al., 2015; Zhan et al., 2022). However, this seems to have focused primarily on the needs of the West over the past 20 years. However, this phenomenon needs to be experienced in Turkey as well. Taking into account previous studies and the STEM potential in Turkey, we have brought into consideration a few variables associated with STEM career aspirations.
According to Archer et al. (2012), STEM-related cultural capital is one of the factors associated with students' STEM career aspirations and goals. Students' STEM-related experiences in and outside of school help to nurture positive feelings regarding these subjects and support the development of STEM career aspirations (Chen et al., 2022; Maiorca et al., 2021). Parental support is also paramount. Many studies have reported that students who receive support from their parents are more comfortable determining their STEM career goals (Jones et al., 2021; Imunović et al., 2018; Imunović & Babarović, 2020), and they also indicated that the continuity of parental support perception provides stability for students involved in STEM (Starr et al., 2022). The interrelated nature of STEM career aspirations with STEM hopes and goals has been another point of emphasis (Douglas & Strobel, 2015). It has been observed that students who receive support from their parents, have STEM-related experiences, and have the potential to pursue a STEM career in the future have hope in STEM (Timur & Kurt, 2020). All these variables may be related to each other both directly and indirectly. Considering this, the following research questions were generated within the scope of the research:
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What is the level of Turkish students' STEM career aspirations, STEM hopes and goals, perceived parental support, and STEM cultural capital?
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What is the relationship between STEM hopes and goals, perceived parental support, STEM cultural capital, and STEM career aspirations?
The Importance of the Study
With STEM industries developing all over the world, there is a need for trained manpower to utilize domestic technologies (Kier et al., 2014). And although there is greater demand in STEM fields, studies have shown that students are less willing than ever before to pursue STEM-related careers (Reinhold et al., 2018). It is crucial to understand why students' STEM career aspirations are so low (Turner et al., 2019). Given the expected shortage in the STEM workforce in the coming years (Iammartino et al., 2016) and the need for more individuals to enter and stay in STEM fields (Fry et al., 2021; Hammond et al., 2020), developing a roadmap for sustainable change is of utmost importance.
As the need to attract and retain STEM talent increases, researchers have become more interested in the factors that determine STEM career goals (Chen et al., 2022; Turner et al., 2019). In recent years, there has been increasing emphasis on the importance of career goals in STEM (Archer et al., 2014). One of the main reasons for this is the evidence that early career goals are important predictors of later career success (Archer & DeWitt, 2016). Although these data suggest that early STEM career aspirations are important in predicting students' likelihood of future career success, the factors shaping these aspirations are not fully understood. Consequently, efforts to understand the factors that shape the likelihood of aspiring to STEM careers are ongoing.
Theoretical Background
This study aimed to elucidate the relationships between Turkish students' STEM career aspirations, STEM hopes and goals, perceived parental support, and STEM cultural capital and the relative impact of these relationships. A career goal is a very complex phenomenon that involves the interaction of many behavioral, contextual, and psychological variables (Chen et al., 2022). For this reason, we considered basing the theoretical framework of the study on social cognitive career theory (SCCT; Lent et al., 1994).
SCCT is based on Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory. Accordingly, career goals in SCCT are primarily associated with beliefs. The belief that a future STEM career will offer a higher standard of living may feed students' hopes and goals regarding STEM (Douglas & Strobel, 2015). In addition, career orientation can also be influenced by cultural capital, which is a product of students' past experiences (Lent et al., 2008). Apart from the student's interests and beliefs, the use of certain learning strategies and the influence of educators, family, and peers are the antecedents that constitute SCCT (Nugent et al., 2015). Therefore, we decided to consider variables within the scope of SCCT for the research.
STEM Career Aspirations
Specific research on STEM career aspirations is quite limited compared to research on career aspirations as a whole (Mau & Li, 2018). The evidence from these studies has indicated that students' interest in STEM fields has increased very little and even decreased in some areas (Kier & Blanchard, 2021). Students often view a STEM career as too difficult to achieve. Moreover, the necessary support structures are not in place to encourage a diverse group of students into these professions (TÜSİAD, 2014). Even more worrying is the fact that students taking STEM electives at different levels often give up on their chosen career goals. Schools must take seriously the responsibility placed upon them to create pathways to a healthy, growing STEM workforce to attract and prepare more students for STEM careers (Huziak-Clark et al., 2014). Many countries employ interventions to nurture STEM careers in their students (Reinhold et al., 2018; Starr et al., 2022). Regardless of the strategy, researchers are increasingly interested in the factors that determine students' STEM career goals.
STEM Hope and Goals
Goal setting and hope are two of the main interrelated factors. Hope is fueled by the perception of successful agency regarding goals, which in turn creates a sense of successful determination to achieve past, present, and future goals. Hope is likely influenced by the belief that there is a successful pathway to reaching one’s goals (Douglas & Strobel, 2015), and therefore, a successful and fulfilling future (Alarcon et al., 2013). Students' current beliefs in STEM fields and their perceptions regarding future possibilities provide information on their STEM hopes and goals. At the same time, students' level of hope contributes to their academic success (Ciarrochi et al., 2007). This ultimately positions students for a better future due to the opportunities offered by STEM careers.
Providing opportunities in STEM can give underprivileged students hope to improve their financial situation and quality of life, and thus provide more opportunities for future generations. Given the potential that a STEM-related career can move someone in poverty to a more economically stable situation, research is needed to assess student interest in STEM and their hopes for a better standard of living. Therefore, it is important to determine which variables most influence students' STEM hopes and goals.
Perceived Parental Support
An increasing number of professional development researchers are stressing the role of social relationships, especially parent-child relationships, in career development (Archer et al., 2015; Lloyd et al., 2018). Perceived parental support appears to have a significant impact on students' career expectations (Fouad et al., 2017). In addition to intrinsic influences on diversity in future career orientation, support, especially from parents, is also important in achieving academic goals. The home has been identified as an important context in which children learn from their parents and form their own personal educational and occupational expectations (Archer et al., 2012). Previous research has argued that parents are an untapped resource (Harackiewicz et al., 2012). However, considering the claim that deficits are likely to worsen unless additional measures are taken despite efforts to encourage interest in and pursuit of STEM careers (Timur & Kurt, 2020), explaining parental support is critical to understanding how children's STEM career goals are formed (Lloyd et al., 2018). Understanding the relationships between perceived parental support and STEM career aspirations can prove useful in attempts to increase the number of students interested in and qualified for STEM careers.
STEM Cultural Capital
STEM cultural capital refers to the effects of one's cultural identity, family background, and societal experiences on STEM education and careers (Lawson, 2021). Associated with norms and values and developed through education (Ferguson, 2016), STEM capital is shown as one of the key factors shaping the likelihood of students developing STEM-related goals (Jones et al., 2021; Moote et al., 2020). Individuals with high levels of STEM capital generally have a stronger foundation in the field. This may enable them to focus more on STEM-related goals and have more motivation to achieve them. For example, a student with a strong math or science background may be more comfortable focusing on engineering or science careers.
Less is known about how STEM cultural capital is related to STEM career aspirations and whether these relationships differ when presented with certain variables (Chen et. al., 2022). In this context, it is important to understand the dynamics of the relationships between STEM career aspirations and STEM cultural capital.
Present Study
In this study, we addressed variables that we hypothesized to be related to STEM career aspirations. Qualitative (Archer & DeWitt, 2016) and quantitative (DeWitt et al., 2016) research on STEM capital has identified certain links between STEM capital and expectations and interest in STEM. Some have reported that there is an increase in hopes and expectations for STEM among students aged 16 years and older (Archer et al., 2012), while others have identified the age as 18 years and older (Moote et al., 2020). High levels of STEM capital may be associated with high STEM-related hopes and goals. Therefore, we chose to test this in the group of students aged 9–15. The following hypothesis was established for this test:
H1. STEM cultural capital is a significant predictor of STEM-related hopes and goals.
There is evidence in the literature that families with strong STEM capital offer more resources to their children. In Du and Wong's (2019) study, it was stated that parents who have professions in STEM fields more effectively offer social, economic, and cultural resources to their children. Again, in Cooper and Berry's (2020) study, it was observed that children of families with high STEM capital have a high level of interest in science. Because of this, we suggest that there is a relationship between STEM capital and parental expectations. We assume that in a family with developed STEM cultural capital, parental expectations will be shaped in parallel. The hypothesis put forward to address this was reads as follows:
H2. STEM cultural capital is a significant predictor of parental expectancy.
Parental expectations have been found to affect STEM-related hopes and goals in many studies. For example, in the study of Zhan et al. (2022), parents stated that they believe that STEM develops their children's basic competencies. In Kier and Blanchard's (2021) study, children living in rural areas affirmed that they dreamed about STEM to make their families proud. And in Mzobe's (2014) study, it was observed that parental expectation was more effective than financial incentives on students' career decisions. Moreover, according to SCCT (Lent et al., 2008), the influence of families, educators, and peers on career choice is undeniable. Moreover, parental expectancy may also influence STEM-related hopes and goals through STEM cultural capital. In this case, we decided to test the following hypothesis in the study:
H3. Parental expectation influences STEM-related hopes and goals.
Studies have shown that parental expectancy affects not only STEM-related hopes and goals, but also STEM career aspirations. Chen et al. (2022) reported a significant relationship between both short-term and long-term parental expectations and STEM career aspirations. Starr et al. (2022) reported that parental support has a significant effect on a stable STEM career, while Yine Lv et al. (2022) conveyed that parental support is a significant predictor of STEM career interest for both girls and boys among high school students. Based on this, the hypothesis we tested in the study is written as follows:
H4. Parental expectation influences STEM career aspirations.
Finally, we hypothesized that STEM-related hopes and goals can affect STEM career aspirations both directly and indirectly. According to Douglas and Strobel (2015), for students to have a STEM-related career aspiration in the future, they need to have hopes and develop goals in STEM. In other words, the hope that pursuing a STEM career will increase living standards, interest in STEM, and positive attitudes towards science and mathematics as the main structure of STEM can produce a desire for employment in STEM fields (Timur & Kurt, 2020). However, there is a serious deficiency in the studies conducted on this subject. Considering this deficiency, we decided to test the following hypothesis:
H5. STEM-related hopes and goals influence STEM career aspirations.