Choosing Chemistry at Different Education and Career Stages: Chemists, Chemical Engineers, and Teachers

Career choice studies evolved into investigating more complex career paths. The social cognitive career theory (SCCT) is based on the social cognitive theory (SCT; Bandura, 1986) and has been applied to practice and research in expanding the STEM pipeline (Smith & White, 2019). We chose SCCT as the theoretical basis for explaining how and why career and academic interests mature, develop, and turned into action (Lent et al., 2002). It relies on the interconnection between personal attributes, such as self-efficacy, outcome expectancy, and goals with environmental, and behavioral themes that influence one’s aspirations towards a career choice as illustrated in Fig. 1 (Lent et al., 1994, 2002).

Studying chemistry enables careers in industry, medicine, food, pharmacology, education, and academia. Skills developed while studying chemistry can be applied in many other areas (Lechleiter, 2013). In previous study, we found that some of the factors that influence the career choices of CIs are different from the factors that influence the career choices of CTs ( Avergil et al., 2020).

In Israel,¹ chemical industry encompasses petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, commodity chemicals, plastics, and specialty chemicals, including flavors, fragrances, and detergents. Chemistry is first introduced to students in middle school, where it is integrated into the general science curriculum. Middle school science teachers have different educational backgrounds, not specifically chemistry, so students are taught chemistry by non-chemistry teachers. Changes in high school science curriculum have contributed to the decline of interest in chemistry. Graduating from high school, there are several academic tracks to study chemistry and pursue higher degrees in chemistry. There is a decline in the number of chemistry teachers and industry professions: during 2008–2016, the percentage of chemistry graduates decreased by 60% (Avergil et al., 2020; Central Bureau of Statistics, 2018). The number of chemistry teachers during 1998–2015 decreased by 18%, and the number of schools in which chemistry is taught has decreased from 43 to 16% (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2018).

To understand the personal, environmental, and behavioral themes affecting chemistry career choice and provide recommendations for choosing a chemistry career, we focused on 143 participants. Table 3 in Appendix 2 presents the distribution of the participants by gender, sector, and seniority. Most of the high school chemistry teachers (N = 72) had over 10 years of experience. Chemists (N = 55) and chemical engineers (N = 18) worked in industry or research centers, and half were senior.

The study applied a mixed-methods approach (Shekhar et al., 2019) in two phases. In line with Creswell (2006), the study was carried out in an explanatory sequential way, with quantitative data obtained in the first phase from the Chemistry Career Choice (C3) questionnaire (Avergil et al., 2020). The qualitative part in the second phase comprised of interviews. The theoretical SCCT framework provided the personal, environmental, and behavioral themes for choosing a chemistry-related career.

Questions in the environmental theme addressed the influence of different role models, such as teachers or lecturers whom the participants had encountered and might had influenced their career choice: Did you encounter personalities that influenced your career choice? We also asked about the reactions they received from others (family members/teachers/colleagues) when they informed them of their decision to pursue a career in chemistry. Questions in the behavioral theme allowed them to provide a reflection on their career decision actions, barriers, and support they received along the way: Considering your academic and career history, if you could have done anything differently, what would that be? Lastly, they were asked to suggest ways to encourage students to major in chemistry during high school and later to choose a chemistry-related career.

The interviews lasted 1 h and were conducted with chemists (N = 6), chemical engineers (N = 4), and chemistry teachers (N = 10). All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and qualitatively analyzed, maintaining confidentiality and anonymity.

Guided by the SCCT, we employed flexible variations, open coding, and selective coding to analyze the qualitative data (Flick, 2018; Roulston, 2008). Three experts performed the open coding, which began with breaking down the collected statements into small segments that were classified into the three major themes—personal, environmental, and behavioral, and helped determine corresponding categories within each theme. For axial coding, the experts held in-depth discussions about assigning each statement to the proper theme and category. A similar process was applied when analyzing data referring to participants’ recommendations regarding how to encourage students to major in chemistry during high school and later to choose a chemistry-related career; the smaller interview statements focused on a single idea emphasizing a specific type of recommendation. A discussion among researchers was held about attributing each statement to the proper recommendation until an agreement was reached. For both set of statements, the inter-judge agreement data for encoding statements based on the list of categories as measured using Kappa reliability was 0.92.

In the second analysis stage, we analyzed the qualitative data with additional descriptive, quantitative data in line with recent trends on analyzing texts using thematic analysis also currently referred to as data mining. Studies on occupational attainment have used text mining (Ignatow & Mihalcea, 2017) or thematic analysis for studies in science education (Tal & Alkaher, 2010). This process aims at finding main themes of document counting of words and from that count analyze the document. The importance of factors identified via the close-ended questions in the questionnaires was established also through the analysis of the frequency of repetition and consistency of factors identified, and their relative importance. Trustworthiness was kept by the engagement of the authors in this research area and was strengthen via triangulation of the two research tools (Creswell, 2006; Denzin & Lincoln, 2000). We calculated for each group the average number of statements in each theme and category. The average number of statements was calculated by dividing the total number of statements in each theme or category by the number of participants that were interviewed—10 in each group. The total number of statements in the CI group was N = 376, and the CI personal theme included 111 statements.

Using data collected from the C3 questionnaire, Fig. 2 shows the themes and categories that affect CTs and CIs to choose a chemistry-related career. The personal theme was found to influence the career choice significantly more than the environmental theme (t(69) = 12.65, p < 0.001) for both CTs and CIs (t(15) = 4.00, p < 0.001; t(65) = 13.10.00, p < 0.001).

Two-way ANOVA analyses of variance with repeated measures were performed in order to compare between the categories within each of the personal and environmental themes, and the interaction with the type of participant group. For the personal theme, we found that the two groups perceived the influence of each category on their career choice differently, F(2,133) = 3.14, p < 0.05, η² = 0.05. Simple main effect tests with Bonferroni adjustment revealed that both groups perceived SE—task-oriented as the most influential category on their career choice, and the Self-confidence in one’s career as the least influential. However, while CTs perceived the task-oriented category as influential at the same level as the SE—scientific/chemistry learning and teaching category, CIs perceived this category as less influential than the task-oriented category.

Figure 3 shows the average number of statements in each theme and category for both groups. Green and blue colors represent statements of CTs and CIs, respectively, made during the interviews. The light color indicates a small number of statements, and dark color—a high number. The personal theme is the most influential on CT career choice, confirming the quantitative results. Teachers talked about their SE in chemistry teaching and learning and the task-oriented aspects. They expressed their high sense of mission and intrinsic motivation when describing why they chose teaching as their career; one teacher said: “I always felt I had the ability to succeed as a teacher because I know how to explain the microscopic level in chemistry in various ways” [CT3]. Another teacher talked about the task-oriented aspect of being a teacher: “Being a teacher is challenging but that’s what motivated me in the first place—preparing my students for the matriculation exam, managing the classroom and being innovative in my pedagogy” [CT7]. CIs described their everyday work as being intensive, in the laboratory or plant, but still expressed high motivation to accomplish their goals and be successful in their work: “Every day, I find myself navigating through implementing experiments, analyzing new data, reading innovative research, and dealing with a lot of bureaucracy. I know how to manage my priorities correctly so I will be successful as a manager and show results” [CI4].

Teachers also expressed high confidence in their choice and their ability to balance teaching with family life. CIs talked about their success in high school and university as enhancing their self-efficacy in chemistry: “I was always good in understanding the microscopic world of chemistry, and therefore I was always successful in it. During high school and university, I got high grades in chemistry courses, and in my work, I am able to investigate aspects in chemistry that interest and challenge me” [CI8].

For the environmental theme, we found that the two groups perceived the influence of each category on their career choice differently, F(2,133) = 20.14, p < 0.001, η² = 0.23. CTs perceived the family and friends as the most influential factor, while CIs perceived the Extrinsic motivation-rewards/status/prestige as most influential (see Fig. 2).

Analyzing participants’ career pathways through the environmental theme has revealed a new category—Quality of educational program (see Fig. 3), which refers to the curriculum, and educational activities students were exposed to in high school and university. This new category of the environmental theme was found to be the most influential in choosing a career among CIs along with extrinsic motivation. When talking about extrinsic motivation aspects, CIs mainly referred to the prestige of a chemistry career and the salary conditions. One CI talked about the salary and how it reflects on the status of the profession: “The salary is not as high as in high-tech, but it is respectable, and it is possible to move up to higher salaries over time. When the profession becomes prestigious, the salary will be rewarding” [CI1]. Another CI talked about the scholarships he had received, which enabled him to advance in his chemistry-related career. Compared to CTs, CIs were more concerned regarding the status of a chemistry career in the society and the working conditions, such as salary CIs gain. Regarding the educational programs that supported their career choice, one participant [CI5] reflected that being exposed to a lot of labs and courses related to the industry increased his passion to study chemistry and choose a chemistry-related career. Another CI reflected: “Compared to today’s curriculum, when I studied chemistry, we not only learned chemistry but we also did chemistry, so the theory and practice were linked. Furthermore, I remember that our program included learning about the different industries in chemistry, and we even visited several of them. Seeing how the factory operated and what is the role of the chemists in this operation made me realize I want to be part of it” [CI3]. CIs highlighted the importance of the practical knowledge they had learned during high school that is implemented in industry: “I think that I would not have chosen a career in chemistry if I had not studied chemistry during my high school years. I revealed how interesting and complex chemistry is, connected to all aspects of life, and I succeeded in it … Understanding the variety of chemistry-related professions made me realize I want to learn more about it” [CI2]. Family, friends, and chemistry teacher in high school were also mentioned in a positive way as supporting participants’ decision to choose a chemistry-related career: “A significant role model in my life that led me to choose chemistry is my high school chemistry teacher, who made me curious about this field” [CI3].

The interview added information also about the SCCT behavioral theme, which addresses choices, actions, or specific apparent behavior that influenced one’s career choice before, during or after his/her decision-making process. We present three behavioral theme categories: (1) Exposure to science/chemistry learning and teaching at early stages in life; (2) barriers, obstacles, and limitations; and (3) getting support and career opportunities. CIs mentioned the barriers, obstacles, and limitations in their profession that influenced their career pathway: “The industry is changing and demanding, and I had to make a change in my chemistry career…. These changes, although in the beginning they seemed to me as negative and challenging, enabled me to reassess my aspirations, my interest in the specific field I was in, and the working condition that were suitable for me” [CI4]. Another chemist noted: “When I felt my current position limited my progression in my chemistry career, I realized I had to make a change and consider other options to pursue my career ambitions” [CI8]. Barriers and limitations participants talked about empowered them to make a change and set the ground for their future progress and advancement in their profession.

CTs expressed their early age experiences and exposure to chemistry teaching in different educational contexts through their life: “Teaching science and chemistry were part of my life in every step. As a student, I was in a community service program that taught science to elementary students; I also worked at the technical education center in my city with children” [CT2].

The early exposure participants talked about is at two levels: (1) introducing the essence of chemistry content, connecting the macroscopic and microscopic levels, and (2) introducing the career opportunities, employment channels, work characteristics, and responsibilities. CIs emphasized the support and promotion opportunities, which enabled them to succeed and make new decisions in their career pathway. One participant said: “I had the privilege of being part of companies that are constantly innovating, which motivated me to advance and succeed in this profession” [CI9].

We asked both groups how we can encourage students to major in chemistry during high school and choose a chemistry-related career. Figure 4 presents key elements that CTs and CIs perceive as important to increasing the number of students who choose to major in chemistry and work in a related field: (1) exposure to chemistry at different educational levels, (2) meeting with role models and hearing their inspirational life stories, (3) making chemistry relevant to everyday life experiences, and (4) raising awareness about stigmas and invest more in the prestige and resources in chemistry education. These elements included specific actions needed to be taken in two levels—students and chemistry professions: we need to increase students’ internal motivation, curiosity, interest, involvement in the learning process, and shape their attitudes towards chemistry, as well as reshape the way chemistry is perceived by society as a profession.

Focusing on the factors effecting CTs ad CIs to choose a chemistry-related career, self-efficacy (SE) beliefs were found to influence both groups. In SCCT, SE is central and is theorized to strongly influence one’s career interest and choice. In the category of SE—chemistry learning and teaching, CIs reflected upon their success and high grades in high school and university, and CTs emphasized their ability to explain and expose their students to the world of chemistry. The quantitative results showed that CIs felt less secure than CTs regarding learning chemistry. This can be explained by the fact that teachers are exposed to a variety of chemistry topics on a daily basis. They encourage their students to explore what interest them while providing information that is sometimes beyond the curriculum (Demirdöğen et al., 2016; Avergil et al., 2020). CTs are also involved in professional development that exposes them to different research processes, advanced methods in chemical industry and scientific articles. CIs’ expertise is usually in their specific domain, so they feel less secure about their knowledge of chemistry in other topics.

For both groups SE—task-oriented was the most significant category, with no differences between the two groups. Although perceiving the teaching profession as challenging, CTs believe in their ability to navigate through different tasks, enhance students’ chemical understanding, implement a variety of teaching methods, manage their classroom, and prepare their students for the matriculation exam. Moreover, they are enthusiastic about becoming teachers, describe teaching as a satisfying and interesting profession that meets their goals and ambitions, and enables them to influence and contribute to young people’s lives, even though the financial reward is relatively low. CIs also expressed confidence in their ability to accomplish tasks and overcome challenges with the goal of being successful in their work in the laboratory or industry. Having high sense of SE that was shaped and nurtured over different points in the lives of CTs and CIs affected their academic and occupational behavior during adolescence and early adulthood. Their beliefs in their capability to cope with assignments in their job reduced the level of career barriers and motivated them to work towards their chosen career. As Fig. 1 shows, their high SE leads to the formation of their career choice goals and later turns into career choice actions (Kelly et al., 2013; Sahin et al., 2017). The category of SE task-oriented aspects, addressing the requirements of the profession itself, received less attention in other studies. Our results show that the combination of high sense of self-efficacy in chemistry knowledge along with feeling confident about the nature of the work, such as handling challenging tasks, proposing a course of action and meeting deadlines, are essential when choosing a career.

The role of society and high school in motivating CTs and CIs to peruse a chemistry-related career was reflected mainly through the environmental theme, specifically in the teachers and lecturer’s category, and in the educational program category. Participants described their high school chemistry teachers as supportive and encouraging, enhancing their curiosity in and love of chemistry. High school curriculum was also mentioned as significant as providing the connection between theory, laboratory practice, and relevance to the industry. Majoring in chemistry during high school provided participants with the opportunity to experience active learning and succeeding in this discipline, which raised their sense of self-efficacy. Relating to the SCCT, these proximal contextual influences enhanced participants’ self-efficacy and career interest, led to the development of their career choice goals, and resulted in choosing a chemistry-related career. These results are supported by the literature: significant others, such as teachers, and learning experiences during high school have a positive effect on pursuing it in university and later as a career (Alexander et al., 2011; Bottia et al., 2018; Reinhold et al., 2018).

Addressing the behavioral theme, chemistry teachers and industrialists emphasized the importance of Exposure to science/chemistry learning and teaching at early stages in life. They noted that early and significant exposure to chemistry might enhance students’ understanding of what chemistry is and how it is connected to our life and to the labor market. CIs also expressed that realizing what the nature of a chemists’ job is and what the relevant industries for them are encouraged them to choose a chemistry-related career. This result leads to a more in-depth discussion regarding the importance of prior chemistry career knowledge. Career knowledge is one’s familiarity with a particular STEM career, for example, chemistry, and the understanding of the requirements and the set of responsibilities expected from him/her in their field of occupation (Blotnicky et al., 2018; Sharf, 1992). STEM career knowledge has been investigated to a lesser extent, although STEM career knowledge should get more attention (Blotnicky et al., 2018). The level of STEM career knowledge an individual directly affects one’s intentions of pursuing a STEM career (Blotnicky et al., 2018; Nugent et al., 2015). Without adequate prior knowledge, students might dismiss a STEM-based career path as a potential option. As emphasized by several teachers, when students start high school, they do not know what chemistry is, what chemists do, and where they work. Equipping students with chemistry career knowledge in an early stage, as recommended by participants, might facilitate their understanding regarding the nature of chemistry work, potentially leading them to choosing a chemistry-related career. CIs emphasized that the educational programs they were exposed to influenced their career choice by simulating the life of a chemists in the laboratory and visiting different factories that provided a glimpse into their possible future. One way to expose students to chemistry career knowledge is by improving educational programs so they would expose students to chemistry careers and the nature of chemistry work. As our participants recommended, replacing the non-attractive theoretical teaching approach and the emphasis on memorizing with labs, inquiry, and learning in context might raise students’ interest in chemistry (Baram-Tsabari & Yarden, 2005; Dori et al., 2020; Magwilang, 2016; Avergil et al., 2020). Our data support the need to integrate chemistry career knowledge into the curriculum in a variety of ways: connecting chemistry to everyday life, meeting with role model scientists and industrialists and explaining the nature of their work, and visiting a variety of chemistry-focused industries.

CIs indicated Extrinsic motivation—rewards/status/prestige in the environmental theme as influential on their career choice. In their recommendations for encouraging students to major and choose chemistry as their future career, salary conditions and the way chemistry is perceived by students and society were raised—all are related to rewards and prestige in the extrinsic motivation category. These aspects were also identified by Salta et al., (2012) who investigated factors that influence students not to pursue a chemistry-related career. They noted that when people hear the word “chemistry,” they immediately think about environmental pollution caused by the by-products of chemical industry and the misuse of chemicals. Furthermore, the term “chemophobia” refers to the fear of chemicals and chemistry (Kafetzopoulos et al., 2006). Students also have images of scientists and chemists as “being in white coats,” using “test tubes in labs,” chemists as “hard working,” “nerdy,” “boring,” etc. (Cleaves, 2005; Dalgety & Coll, 2004). Such images might be highlighted by the media and influence students’ decision-making process in their career path (Kniveton, 2004). As recommended by participants, raising the prestige and relevance of chemistry will motivate them to choose a chemistry related career. Overcoming and changing this perception about chemistry can be done by emphasizing the importance of chemistry by school principals, Ministry of Education, and other decision makers within the educational system at the school and national levels.

CIs’ and CTs’ suggestion for ways to encourage students to choose a chemistry-related career as perceived by chemistry professionals might create bias. However, we believe that the strength of this population, stems from their personal experience, insights, and unique point of view, justifies considering these suggestions and using them.

We should treat the choice process as an ecosystem nurtured and enhanced by personal and environmental aspects. Revisiting the characteristics of the educational program students are exposed to during middle and high school is essential. Given this study’s findings, the curriculum should include (a) diverse learning opportunities, (b) relevant content addressing every-day life phenomena, (c) linking chemistry to industry while strengthening the connection between CI and students, and (d) reference to chemistry career knowledge by encouraging students to investigate the possibility of graduate work. Figure 5 presents a conceptual model of the connection between the SCCT and interviewees’ recommendations for encouraging the choice of chemistry-related careers. The model divides the plane into four quadrants, each being a combination of two categories in the environmental or personal theme and containing pertinent interviewees' recommendations.

In the personal theme, raising students’ SE in chemistry can be conducted via better understanding of chemistry-related careers and exposing them to possibilities of working in research laboratories or industries. This might lead them to defining chemistry career goals and acting on them.

Our results showed that teachers enhance the development of adolescents’ motivation, confidence, and efficacy in science, leading to the pursuit of a chemistry-related career. There is a need to work towards strengthening students’ self-efficacy in chemistry. At the national level, there is a need to raise the prestige of chemistry as a discipline and as a profession. These actions, which addressing the personal and environmental themes, will encourage high school students to major in chemistry. The present study is one of few studies in the field that have used the SCCT framework to examine all three aspects of career choice—personal, environmental, and behavioral, while addressing teaching and industry level. We have applied the SCCT specifically in the chemistry domain and investigated ways to foster students' self-efficacy in the context of choosing chemistry-related careers. Practically, the study provides recommendations for various stakeholders on how to encourage students to major in chemistry, later to choose chemistry-related careers, and retaining them.