Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The rise of economics in English schools has made no difference to a persistent gender divide among young people pursuing the subject, according to Bank of England research showing boys remain twice as likely as girls to study it at A-level or university.
The number of students sitting A-level economics rose from 23,267 in 2012 to 37,251 in 2023, an increase of 60 per cent that made it the eighth most popular subject, the report showed.
The expansion has helped to narrow the gap in provision between private and state-funded schools. Students from private schools remain over-represented, but now account for 21 per cent of A-level entrants, down from 30 per cent in 2012.
But there has been no change over time in the 70-30 split between boys and girls choosing the subject at every level of study from GCSE to university courses.
“We don’t seem to be shifting the dial,” said Carly Sandy, education programme adviser at the BoE, which is partnering with Manchester university in a programme to train existing teachers of other subjects to give A-level economics classes.
The three-year programme will run initially in north-west England, with 25 places open to qualified teachers in state-funded schools, and expand to offer 100 places UK-wide in year three.
Economics also remains far more popular in London and south-east England than elsewhere in the country. Students from Indian, African and Chinese backgrounds are more likely to study it than those from white British backgrounds, the BoE said on Wednesday.
The imbalance in the flow of young people into the profession troubles policymakers because economics degrees offer some of the highest financial returns of any subject, and economic research underpins crucial policy decisions without its authors necessarily being representative of society.
Women are now more visible at the top of the profession, including on the BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee, where five of the nine current members are female.
However, the central bank is still lagging behind its internal targets for gender balance and minority ethnic representation in new appointments at the most senior levels.
Separate research by Discover Economics, a campaign led by UK-based academics, found that girls were put off studying the subject at A-level by perceptions that it was “about money and data analysis”, associated with maths, dominated by “clever, opinionated and competitive” boys and a route purely to a career in finance.
But BoE officials say that as well as addressing these perceptions, there is a need to equip more schools to offer economics, given a dearth of existing teachers or new entrants to teaching seeking to specialise in the subject.
Economics is currently offered at A-level in just over half of non-selective state schools in England, compared with 90 per cent of selective schools and 82 per cent of private schools. “We need to boost the supply,” Sandy said.
