The importance of science
It is important that the UK has enough well-qualified scientists to meet the demand, but there is much evidence to suggest that there is a shortfall in the numbers of young people coming through into science-related occupations. This explains why science continues to hold core subject status with the National Curriculum. The ASPIRE Project reported concern that women, and working-class and some minority ethnic groups are under-represented in the study of science, especially in the physical sciences and engineering (Archer et al., 2013).