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In this Research Full Paper we contribute to the research on constructions of technology education. Why are women and minority groups often under-represented in student cohorts in STEM programmes? Many studies have addressed this question, and much is known about the impact of representations of technology studies on the choices and motivations of these demographic groups in many countries. Many of the recent studies published in the English language address the North American education system. This paper investigates if perpetuation of gender norms might be evident in recruitment materials for Swedish upper secondary education. This research question is addressed through an analysis of how upper secondary education schools use images in presenting their university preparatory programs to prospective students. Swedish post-compulsory school education comprises a number of specialised upper secondary school programmes in Technology, Natural science, Social science and Economy. A significant display area of the web content regarding these programmes is pictorial information. In this study Technology Education is viewed as a societal construction and images representing the technology program are here used as a way of discovering both perceptions about them, and underlying themes that the choice of images might communicate. Three themes, Environment, Pedagogical approach and Human presence, emerge and serve as a foundation from which similarities and differences in the visual messages associated with these programs are investigated. Our major finding is that images used in association with Technology Education portray a paucity of social relations and a dominant culture of working/studying alone. These findings are of concern, as this type of profile has been shown to reduce motivation of women and minority groups to pursue such a career. © 2020 IEEE., QC 20210412

In this Research Full Paper we contribute to the research on constructions of technology education. Why are women and minority groups often under-represented in student cohorts in STEM programmes? Many studies have addressed this question, and much is known about the impact of representations of technology studies on the choices and motivations of these demographic groups in many countries. Many of the recent studies published in the English language address the North American education system. This paper investigates if perpetuation of gender norms might be evident in recruitment materials for Swedish upper secondary education. This research question is addressed through an analysis of how upper secondary education schools use images in presenting their university preparatory programs to prospective students. Swedish postcompulsory school education comprises a number of specialised upper secondary school programmes in Technology, Natural science, Social science and Economy. A significant display area of the web content regarding these programmes is pictorial information. In this study Technology Education is viewed as a societal construction and images representing the technology program are here used as a way of discovering both perceptions about them, and underlying themes that the choice of images might communicate. Three themes, Environment, Pedagogical approach and Human presence, emerge and serve as a foundation from which similarities and differences in the visual messages associated with these programs are investigated. Our major finding is that images used in association with Technology Education portray a paucity of social relations and a dominant culture of working/studying alone. These findings are of concern, as this type of profile has been shown to reduce motivation of women and minority groups to pursue such a career., QC 20220304Part of conference proceedings: ISBN 978-1-7281-8961-1

Ingenjörsutbildningar i Sverige har på ungefär hundra år gått från att enbart ta in män till en andel av 36 procent kvinnliga studenter. Även om en jämställd könsfördelning går framåt är andelen kvinnor på vissa program så låg som 16 procent. Den största rekryteringsbasen till ingenjörsutbildningar är gymnasieskolans Naturvetenskapsprogram (NV) och Teknik-program (TE). Grundad teori (GT) användes som metodansats när kvinnliga elever på NV och TE intervjuades för att undersöka vad de upptas av när de står inför sina studieval. Ett brett spektrum av anledningar som kan sammanfattas i kärnkategorin Beslutsgrund visade att eleverna vägde in bland annat arbetsmarknad, behörighet till universitet och högskola, en utbildnings rankning, förväntad social tillhörighet, den upplevda självförmågan, sina betyg, ett undvikande av ett skolämne de inte gillade, om en utbildning leder till den karriär de vill ha, arbetsbelastning samt arbetsbelastning i relation till behörighet. Studien visade också att metodansatsen GT kan användas i ett examensarbete och att det finns utmaningar och möjligheter med denna kombination., Education in engineering sciences in Sweden have for the past hundred years gone from solely recruiting men to a 36 percentage of female students. Even though the number of women is progressing in some fields, other fields still have as low proportion as 16 percent. The largest base for recruiting engineering students is the Swedish gymnasium programs in Sciences (NV) and in Technology (TE). The research method grounded theory (GT) was used when female students in NV and TE were interviewed to investigate the main concern of these students making choices about present and future studies. A broad spectrum of reasons, summarized in the core category Reasons for Decision (Beslutsgrund), showed that the students took into consideration the labour market, eligibility to university, the ranking of an education, expectations for social belonging, self-efficacy, grades, avoidance of a school subject, if the education led to the desired career, work load and work load in relation to eligibility. The execution of GT showed that this method could be used within the frame of a master thesis and that there are challenges and advantages in the combination.

Ingenjörsutbildningar i Sverige har på ungefär hundra år gått från att enbart ta in män till en andel av 36 procent kvinnliga studenter. Även om en jämställd könsfördelning går framåt är andelen kvinnor på vissa program så låg som 16 procent. Den största rekryteringsbasen till ingenjörsutbildningar är gymnasieskolans Naturvetenskapsprogram (NV) och Teknik-program (TE). Grundad teori (GT) användes som metodansats när kvinnliga elever på NV och TE intervjuades för att undersöka vad de upptas av när de står inför sina studieval. Ett brett spektrum av anledningar som kan sammanfattas i kärnkategorin Beslutsgrund visade att eleverna vägde in bland annat arbetsmarknad, behörighet till universitet och högskola, en utbildnings rankning, förväntad social tillhörighet, den upplevda självförmågan, sina betyg, ett undvikande av ett skolämne de inte gillade, om en utbildning leder till den karriär de vill ha, arbetsbelastning samt arbetsbelastning i relation till behörighet. Studien visade också att metodansatsen GT kan användas i ett examensarbete och att det finns utmaningar och möjligheter med denna kombination., Education in engineering sciences in Sweden have for the past hundred years gone from solely recruiting men to a 36 percentage of female students. Even though the number of women is progressing in some fields, other fields still have as low proportion as 16 percent. The largest base for recruiting engineering students is the Swedish gymnasium programs in Sciences (NV) and in Technology (TE). The research method grounded theory (GT) was used when female students in NV and TE were interviewed to investigate the main concern of these students making choices about present and future studies. A broad spectrum of reasons, summarized in the core category Reasons for Decision (Beslutsgrund), showed that the students took into consideration the labour market, eligibility to university, the ranking of an education, expectations for social belonging, self-efficacy, grades, avoidance of a school subject, if the education led to the desired career, work load and work load in relation to eligibility. The execution of GT showed that this method could be used within the frame of a master thesis and that there are challenges and advantages in the combination.