Key findings:

More than 40 per cent of students surveyed did not feel encouraged to do well in maths and science by their teachers at high school.

• “That was also another influence with me with maths and biology. I did biology in year twelve but with maths I've always been very weak and with the teaching, I felt also that the teachers sort of focussed on the ones that did well and the ones that didn't, sort of, you know, and I felt like if I went down that road I would just fail instantly because I was not good at maths, and I'm still not good at maths, but that's why I went down the arts road as well.”

1 in 3 students were influenced by past teachers in their university choices

• “I did Methods in year 11 and I had the worst teacher in the world, and I knew that she was the only one teaching it for year 12, because year 11 we had two teachers, in year 12 there was only one teacher, and I had her the year before, and I didn't want to do that subject again... I just dropped out of it and I dropped out of maths completely because of her, she made me hate maths...”

1 in 5 STEM students somewhat or totally engage in the stereotype that science is for nerds.

• “Also if you see scientists on the news like, there's kind of a stereotype that you will see... Like kind of wearing glasses... They never dress well.”

Students sometimes feel STEM subjects do not align with other interests and abilities

• “Our school combatted it when they introduced electives from year 8 onwards. You have a set of domains where you have to cover like a few fields a few times within the three years before you hit year 10 and you can do a science element but, it can be a science /PE element, so those kids that often don't like major in traditional science, can change it like doing like PE science, science of food. They get to do it in ways that they find more appealing.”

Some students interviewed saw no positive value from pursuing STEM as a career

• “I think they should do career fairs and stuff earlier like we started doing them in years 11 and 12 and maybe in year 10 but by that time you've already picked the subjects that you're doing for your VCE or TCE and you are kind of already set in that. If it was earlier you'd have more time to think about it or like, er, factory or area based career days so if you have one on science, have one on your arts subjects and then people kind of see 'so this is where this kind of thing can take me'.”

An inability to understand or work with the precise black-and-white nature of science, as opposed to less structured processes, turned some students away

• “Well that's the main reason I dropped science, I just didn't. I much preferred the idea of knowing about a concept and then being able to build on it myself rather than having to learn absolutely everything. In a structured way.”