Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner. The Young People's STEM Aspirations and Trajectories, Age 20-22, 2020-2023 data were gathered as part of the ASPIRES 3 project. This was a four-year (2020-2023) phase of a 14-year mixed-methods project which investigated factors shaping the trajectories of young people in England into, through and out of STEM education. ASPIRES 3 extended previous research (see below) conducted with the same cohort of young people, born between 1 September 1998 and 31 August 1999. At the time of ASPIRES 3, the young people surveyed were aged 21/22. The ASPIRES methodology comprised a quantitative online survey of the cohort and repeat (longitudinal) interviews with a selected sub-sample of students and their parents. Please note that this dataset comprises the quantitative (survey) data only, not the qualitative (interview) data. The survey built upon previous waves of ASPIRES and collected various socio-demographic data (including gender and ethnicity), attainment (self-reported) and attitudinal data.  Data gathered under the first ASPIRES project, when participants were aged 10-14 years, is held under SN 9222. Data gathered under the second project (ASPIRES 2), when participants were aged 15-19 years, is held under SN 9223.Main Topics:Topics included: young people’s aspirations and expectations and the influences on these; actual destinations post-18; learner identities and relationships to learning; general views on science and careers in and from science; experiences of science education and the STEM labour market; extra-curricular activities and qualifications being studied. Most questions used a five-point Likert-type scale to elicit attitudinal responses. Response options were on a five-point scale from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly disagree’ with ‘neither agree nor disagree’ as a midpoint. The dataset is a study of the cohort and is not tracked or longitudinal.