Life Chances and Educational Achievement in the UK: A

Research and Policy OverviewAlice Sullivan and Geoff Whitty

Institute of Education

Introduction

• Education, life chances and quality of life

• Origins and destinations linked via educational credentials

• Class, gender and ‘race’/ethnicity, differences in schooling and educational attainment

• Need for policy focus on class, albeit not neglecting other influences

The SEG gap in early years

High SES; low early rank

Low SES;low early rank

High SES;high early rank

Low SES; high early rank

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

22 28 34 40 46 52 58 64 70 76 82 88 94 100 106 112 118

Age in months

Av

era

ge

po

sit

ion

in

th

e d

istr

ibu

tio

n

Source: Feinstein (2003)

Social Class

• Economic, cultural and social capital

Gender

• Education gap in favour of girls

• Labour market gap still favours men

1+ A-C GCSE

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1991 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000

MC FMC MWC FWC M

8+ A-C GCSE

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1991 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000

MC F

MC M

WC F

WC M

‘Race’/ Ethnicity

• How much is accounted for by background variables?

• How much is accounted for by school processes?

• High minority ethnic investment in education

Schooling

• Home matters more, but school matters

• Methodological difficulty in isolating school effects

• Problems faced by schools in poor areas

Choice and Diversity

• Concerns about segregation and selection

Implications

• Need for better data

• Clear impact of social class

• 5 Year strategy focus on class welcome

• But not sufficiently followed through

• ‘Positive discrimination’ needed for schools in poor areas

• Importance of social and academic mix requires action on admissions

• Inequalities can’t be addressed through education alone

• Social mobility not an adequate goal.