STEM degree trajectories among students in Catalonia: initial performance, gender and social origin
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5944/educxx1.42268Keywords:
educational equity, higher education, women's education, first generation college students, STEM education, students' trajectories, student sociologyAbstract
This article explores the trajectories of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) degree students in Catalonia (Spain), focusing on the influence of initial academic performance in interaction with the sociodemographic factors of gender and parental educational level (PEL). By analysing a longitudinal database of 7 academic years (2012-2019) on newly enrolled STEM students in the Catalan face-to-face higher education system (11 universities; n= 10,274), we examine how these factors influence the ability of students to persist and succeed in this academically difficult environment. A Group-Based Trajectory Model (GBTM) is used to rank student trajectories based on their annual rate of achievement. The predicted probability of belonging to each group is then calculated from several binary logistic regression models that introduce interactions between the various factors and, finally, first and second differences are calculated to estimate the influence of these factors on group membership. The results indicate that first-year performance is a strong predictor of trajectory, with PEL and gender acting as moderators. Specifically, students from families with a university education and women tend to have better trajectories and greater persistence, even when they face initial academic difficulties. The research contributes to understanding the factors that affect persistence and dropout in STEM degrees, highlighting the importance of considering the trajectory as a whole, and social and gender inequalities.
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