STEM career mentoring for secondary school students in Bhutan

Mentors meet with students four times to discuss career path and share information about the importance of STEM education, student life, labor market information and job prospects of STEM students, as well as the entry requirements and application process to Science stream at upper secondary school.

Mentors recruited are students who meet pre-specified criteria and are currently pursuing a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in STEM subjects in six colleges and schools, including College of Natural Resources, College of Science and Technology, Gyelpzhing College of Information Technology, Jigme Namgyel Engineering College, Sherubtse College, and Royal Thimphu College.

Mentors are provided training by trained counselors on communication and facilitation skills. All mentors are provided with standardized information about labor market and job conditions of 28-34 year old, which is based on the Labor Force Surveys in 2018 and 2019; as well as entry requirements and application process to Science stream at upper secondary school. The employment information is disaggregated by the gender and the following education qualifications: Bachelors in Science, Math, Computer Science, and Agriculture; Bachelors in Engineering; Bachelors in Medicine, Health, and Nursing; Bachelors in Education; Bachelors in Business, Management, Economics, and Law; Bachelors in Arts, Humanities, and Social Studies; Technical Degrees (National Certificate II, III, Diploma) from Technical Training Institute (TTI) and Institute of Zorig Chusum (IZC); High school diploma. Other component of the treatment such as student life sharing is based on mentor-own experience.

Students from all lower secondary schools are invited to take an online survey that asks about demographics and other baseline information including academic performance, preferences about STEM-related education and future employment, as well as subjective assessment on their knowledge about different aspects of upper secondary education by academic stream.

The mentoring program is introduced to randomly selected schools from the list of lower secondary schools that complete the baseline survey and are within proximity to six above-mentioned STEM colleges (76 schools). From these treatment schools, students are randomly selected as potential mentees. Potential mentees are randomly paired with a mentor. On average, 5 mentees are paired with one mentor. Students can refuse to join the program.

Mentors and students meet four times on one-to-one basis. These meetings can be in person or online, depending on the travel distance between the mentors and mentees as well as other travel restrictions related to COVID-19. In each meeting, mentors and students discuss career path, the importance of STEM education, student life, labor market information and job prospects of STEM students, as well as the entry requirements and application process to Science stream at upper secondary school.

At the end of each meeting with each mentee, mentors are required to submit a report on their mentoring progress on six topics: identifying career issues, understanding the importance of STEM education, understanding the courses/study options, understanding the life of a typical student, understanding the career path of graduates, and the entry requirements and admission process to Science stream. Mentors are also asked to provide other information on communication and relationship with the mentees.

After the fourth meeting, all students from 76 schools take an online endline survey, which is largely similar to the baseline survey, with additional questions on entry requirements and application process to Science stream in upper secondary school.

2021-11-01

2021-11-30

Actual educational choice after graduating from lower secondary school
Preferences on higher secondary education

We will create a single index of each outcome.

Test score in the lower secondary school graduation exam “Bhutan Secondary Education Certificate” (BSEC)

[Other intermediary outcomes]
Preferences on university-level education
Attitude to science and technology
Gender norm related to STEM and employment
Subjective knowledge on Science stream at upper secondary school regarding admission and future career path
Objective knowledge about entry requirements and application process to Science stream at upper secondary school
Expected satisfaction on Science stream
Beliefs about approval of parents, peers, and society if enrolling in Science stream
Beliefs about peers’ preferences on higher secondary education
Subjective assessment of ability to enroll and complete Science stream

We will create a single index of each outcome.

Our study subjects are grade 10 students in 76 lower secondary schools in Bhutan. The mentoring program is provided through two-stage randomization. The first-stage randomization is at school level: 39 schools are randomly selected as treatment schools; 37 schools as control schools. The second-stage is at student level: in treatment schools, randomly selected students, referred to as treatment students, are offered the mentoring program. Treatment students are randomly paired with mentors. In control schools there are no treatment students.

We conduct a census survey of students at the baseline and endline.

The selection of our study subjects, mentors, randomization, and data collection are conducted as follows:

Study Subjects
Our study subjects are all the grade 10 students (equivalent to lower secondary school seniors) who satisfy the following criteria:
(i) The student should go to one of the 76 lower secondary schools that are in proximity STEM colleges. We consider proximity as less than 3-hour drive distance, which is based on Google Map.
(ii) The student should complete the baseline survey.

Mentor recruitment
We recruit about 200 mentors who satisfy the following criteria:
(i) The mentor should be currently pursuing a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in STEM subjects in six colleges and schools, including College of Natural Resources, College of Science and Technology, Gyelpzhing College of Information Technology, Jigme Namgyel Engineering College, Sherubtse College, and Royal Thimphu College.
(ii) The mentors should have secured a minimum of 65% in overall academic performance in grade 12.

Randomization
(i) We randomly choose 36 schools from the list of 76 lower secondary schools, stratified by geographic area, school size (total students), and public/private status.
(ii) From these schools, we randomly choose 1000 students (treatment students). The number of treatment students chosen from each school depends on mentor availability in the same geographic area.
(iii) Treatment students are randomly paired with mentors in the same geographic area. Each mentor has at most five mentees.
Data collection
(i) The baseline survey: We collect the information about students (e.g., demographics and other baseline information including academic performance, preferences about STEM-related education and future employment, as well as subjective assessment on their knowledge about different aspects of upper secondary education by academic stream) in the online survey. It is a census survey, although it is expected that some students will not take the survey.
(ii) The endline survey: We collect similar information about students in the online survey, with additional questions on knowledge about entry requirements and application process to Science stream in upper secondary school. It is a census survey, although it is expected that some students will not take the survey.
(iii) The mentor report form: We collect information on the mentoring progress on identifying career issues, understanding the importance of STEM education, understanding the courses/study options, understanding the life of a typical student, understanding the career path of graduates, and the entry requirements and admission process to Science stream.
(iv) Administrative data on test score in the lower secondary school graduation exam “Bhutan Secondary Education Certificate” (BSEC) will be shared by the Ministry of Education in Spring 2022.
(v) We will collect the data about their actual educational choices from the Ministry of Education in Summer-Fall 2022.

Randomization done in Stata.

School and Individual

Yes

76 schools

6,000 students (grade 10)

37 schools control (total 2,600 students), 39 schools (total 3,400 students) with students chosen to be participating in the mentoring program. In 39 treated schools, 1,000 students are selected for the treatment, and 2,400 are not.