The Times - UK (2022-04-28)

the times | Thursday April 28 2022 2GM 7

News

The government’s social mobility com-
missioner has been criticised by leading
scientists for telling MPs that girls do
not like studying physics.
Katharine Birbalsingh, who has been
described as the country’s strictest head
teacher, said girls shunned the subject
because there was too much hard
maths involved.
In evidence to the Commons science
and technology committee, Birbalsingh,
who is the head teacher of Michaela
Community School in Wembley, said
only 16 per cent of pupils in the A-level
physics class at her school were female.
“Physics isn’t something girls tend to
fancy,” she said. “They don’t like it.”
She said that the school’s science
teachers were good, as were its results
at GCSE. “My explanation is that they
[girls] just don’t want it, they would pre-
fer to do chemistry and biology.
“There’s a lot of hard maths in there
that I think they’d rather not do. Re-
search people say that’s a natural thing.
I don’t know.”

Staff at Harry’s

start-up rebel

over ‘pay cuts’

David Charter Washington

Coaches at the Californian “mental

fitness” start-up where the Duke of

Sussex is chief impact officer are revolt-

ing against contractual changes they

claim will result in pay cuts.

Half a dozen coaches have criticised

a new rating system they say will influ-

ence their fees, as well as moves to cut

payments for note-taking, researching

clients and assigning activities, accord-

ing to US website The Daily Beast.

None of the coaches it spoke to could

define the role of Harry, 37, raising

questions in their minds about whether

his position at BetterUp was anything

more than a marketing move.

Announcing the duke’s role when he

joined last March, the company said it

was “energised by his model of

inspiration and impact through action”

and he would “educate and inspire our

community and champions the import-

ance of focusing on preventative mental

fitness and human potential worldwide”.

Coaches complained the company

decided to evaluate them retro-

spectively, partly on how “life-chang-

ing” a client found their guidance.

BetterUp said it was working to im-

prove on its original plans and has

pledged to reverse at least some of the

changes. “No one will see any sort of de-

crease in their effective session rate,” a

BetterUp executive wrote to coaches

on Tuesday.

The company declined to comment.

T

he Duchess

of Cambridge

and the

Princess

Royal arrived

at the offices of

medical organisations

working in maternal

healthcare yesterday

for a rare joint royal

visit (Valentine Low

writes).

Princess Anne is

patron of the Royal

College of Midwives

and the duchess is

patron of the Royal

College of

Obstetricians and

Gynaecologists, and

the organisations now

share a London

headquarters. They

met representatives

from Tommy’s

National Centre for

Maternity

Improvement and

learnt about the

innovative digital tools

being developed to

identify and support

women with higher-

risk pregnancies.

The Duchess of

Cornwall, meanwhile,

developed a taste

for smashing plates at

the National Theatre

in London, describing

it as therapeutic. They

were, fortunately,

stage plates designed

to be broken, and were

part of a set for a play

just opening at the

National: Middle by

David Eldridge. Rufus

Norris, the theatre

director, told her: “It’s

a domestic drama

about a middle-aged

couple. At one point

one of them gets

rather cross and takes

the crockery to task.

We formally invite you

to test it out.”

The duchess, who

has been married to

the Prince of Wales

since 2005 but has

known him rather

longer, so enjoyed the

experience that she

then smashed two

more on the Olivier

stage. “I might try it at

home!” she said.

Camilla was making

her first visit to the

theatre since taking

over from the Duchess

of Sussex as its royal

patron last month. The

duchess met costume

makers, actors, props

teams and puppeteers,

including Peter Twose,

from War Horse, who

entertained her with

his impression of a

horse. Camilla was a

fan of the play — “I

was sobbing my eyes

out,” she said.

Kate and Anne join

forces to highlight

women’s healthcare

The Duchess of

Cambridge and the

Princess Royal on a visit

in London yesterday.

The Duchess of Cornwall

was shown puppets at

the National Theatre

K

Hard maths ‘putting girls off physics’

Nicola Woolcock Education Editor Birbalsingh said campaigns to boost
uptake of science and maths (Stem)
subjects created the “opposite problem”
at her school, with “too many” pupils
choosing Stem and too few choosing
philosophy, theology and history. She
claimed that those from immigrant or
poorer backgrounds were more likely

to want to choose a career that brought

more certainty.

“If you’re from a more privileged

background you might decide to be a

poet, actor or writer, professions that

are far less secure or obvious in

financial reward. So we’re not going

around trying to persuade people to do

physics, we’re trying to persuade them

to do theology or history.”

Professor Samantha Pugh, of the

school of physics and astronomy at

Leeds University, wrote on Twitter: “If

the girls don’t want to do physics

‘because there’s a lot of hard maths’

then why do so many choose to do

maths A-level? That explanation

makes no sense.”

Professor Christina Pagel, director of

the clinical and operational research

unit at University College London, said:

“The barriers to entry are not difficulty,

but attitudes like this.”

Exam board figures show A-level

physics was taken last summer by

40,741 candidates, of whom 9,451, or

23 per cent, were female. In 2016 it was

sat by 35,344 candidates, of whom 7,

or 21.6 per cent were female.

6 Graphic novels are in the top ten

favourite books for secondary school

pupils for the first time, research of

more than a million children found.

Three of the top ten were all from the

Heartstopper graphic novel series, a

coming-of-age romance set in a school.

Katharine

Birbalsingh said

girls preferred

biology and

chemistry

“People all over the world have prob-
lems. And as long as people have prob-
lems, the blues can never die.” So said
the guitarist BB King.
Having had her fair share of prob-
lems in recent times, the Queen has
more in common with King than might
be imagined after it has emerged that
she loves the blues, jazz and especially
admires Duke Ellington.
While known to be a fan of classical
show tunes and the music that defined
her youth during the Second World

and master’s in physics in Italy, I

went on to do a PhD at the

University of Lyons, and a post-

doctorate at the University of

Cambridge.

I found a lot of inspiring women

professors along the way, who have

been key role models in a male-

dominated environment. It’s been an

inspiring journey that taught me

new ways of looking at the world,

always questioning what I see and

most of all, what I don’t.

Anna Lombardi is a senior data

journalist at The Times

A

s a five-year old, my

biggest dream was to own

a microscope. I never got

one but, with time, I

found a way to use a lot

of them. When it came to choosing

my bachelor’s degree, I was torn. All

my female friends were going on to

study law, medicine, literature or

architecture. Only a couple of male

Study taught me to question everything

friends chose physics. “That must be

challenging,” I thought. “I will never

be able to do it. Or maybe I can?”

I love to push myself, the problem

was I hated studying physics in

college. Probably because we never

entered a laboratory, we never did

hands-on experiments. Deep inside,

though, I was fascinated by a subject

that naturally lives in multiple

universes: it can explain the

infinitely big and the infinitely

small, the movement of galaxies and

the laws that regulate how atoms

self-organise. After my bachelor’s

Anna Lombardi

Comment

Duke Ellington’s

Take the A Train

is a favourite

Jazz musician reveals the Queen’s love of Duke Ellington

George Sandeman War, the Queen’s taste for jazz was re-
vealed by Gary Crosby, a double-bass
player who was given an OBE in 2009.
Crosby, who became the first jazz
musician to be awarded the Queen’s
Medal for Music in 2018, told BBC
Radio 2 that he was left “floored” by the
Queen’s knowledge and appreciation
for instruments.
Appearing on The Blues Show, he was
asked by its host, Cerys Matthews,
about what it was like meeting the mon-
arch and if she was a blues fan.
“Duke Ellington,” he replied. “Elling-
ton came up, and her appreciation of

music and instruments — how they’re

amplified — just floored me for about a

minute.”

He said that the Queen had told him

how she could not understand how tens

of thousands of people could be in a

field trying to listen to acoustic instru-

ments being re-amplified because it

would not sound the same.

“I just sat there and [thought], ‘Is this

for real? The Queen is speaking to me

about re-amplification of acoustic

stringed instruments’.”

She met Ellington at an arts festival

in Yorkshire in 1958 where the Amer-

ican was said to have “politely flirted

with Her Majesty”. He wrote The

Queen’s Suite in her honour, send-

ing it to the palace, and said that

she had told him “about all the

records of mine her father had”.

When living in Malta as Prin-

cess Elizabeth, with

her late husband

Prince Philip, the

couple were

known to have danced to one of Elling-

ton’s songs, Take the A Train, during

their nights out as newlyweds.

It is said that Prince Philip reg-

ularly requested the song from

the resident band at the Phoeni-

cia Hotel, a favourite haunt.

Lady Elizabeth Anson,

the Queen’s cousin, told a

BBC documentary that

“the Queen loves the

theatre and musicals

like Showboat, Oklaho-

ma! and Annie Get Your

Gun”.

KIRSTY O’CONNOR/PA; FRANK AUGSTEIN/AP