The 2025 Year 12 Physics Participation Report Card, released today by the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI) and the Australian Institute of Physics (AIP), reveals a long-term decline in secondary school physics participation across Australia, and persistent gender gaps.

Media release: https://www.aip.org.au/resources/Documents/Advocacy/Y12_Physics_report_media_release.pdf

Full report: https://www.aip.org.au/resources/Documents/Advocacy/year-12-participation-physics-2025.pdf

Key findings:

1. The proportion of students studying physics at Year 12 level has dropped to 12.1%, the lowest level recorded. 
2. Male and female participation in physics have both declined.  Over the period 2015 – 2023, male participation declined from 23.5% to 18.9%, while female participation declined from 7.0% to just 5.8%.
3. No progress has been made in closing gender gaps. One quarter of Year 12 physics students are female, a ratio which has remained unchanged for many years.