A new online survey has shed light on the career aspirations of young people in Scotland who study STEM subjects, with IT & Communications and Science & Technology serving as joint favourites, both securing 13% of the vote.

This interest in STEM careers is in keeping with the wider population which crowned IT & Communications (13%) as the career of choice for Britain’s young people, followed by Science & Technology (10%) and Arts & Culture (10%).

The survey asked more than 2,000 children in the UK, aged 9-14, about their experiences of learning STEM subjects at school and career aspirations.

It revealed earning as much money as possible is a top priority for young people in Britain when making career choices, with 37% of respondents ranking it among their most important considerations.

A good work-life balance (36%) and doing something creative (32%) closely follow pay. Despite growing up in the age of social media influencers, just over one in 10 (11%) said fame is an important consideration.

The YouGov survey, commissioned by energy company Equinor, also found that Computer Science & ICT is considered the easiest STEM subject by Britain’s young people with a quarter describing the subject as ‘very easy’. It far outstripped its closest rivals: Maths (19%), Biology (18%) and Geography (17%).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, 44% of the digital natives said having more opportunities to play games or computer simulations would make STEM subjects more interesting for them, and 43% said they feel excited when learning something new in computers and digital technology.

Susan Falch-Lovesey, UK Head of Social Value at Equinor, said: “The UK energy industry is broader than ever today, comprising not just of oil and gas, but a range of clean energies such as wind power, solar power, hydrogen, carbon capture and much more. Likewise, the industry employs a broad spectrum of talent, from operators and technicians to data scientists and city planners – and increasingly, digitisation sits at the heart of what we do.

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“We created the Wonderverse programme because we want to encourage young people in Scotland, and indeed across the wider UK, to consider the wide range of careers on offer in the energy industry and STEM fields more broadly. Our recent YouGov survey has really highlighted to me that this was the right thing to do, ensuring that schools have access to a variety of resources to teach these vital subjects.”