A paper examined the occupational mobility of men in three birth cohorts (1946, 1958, and 1970). Although the the most important effect on mobility chances was that of educational qualifications, the importance of education did not increase across the three cohorts. Class origins also had a significant effect on mobility chances – and one that did not decrease across the cohorts.
Source: Erzsebet Bukodi and John Goldthorpe, Class Origins, Education and Occupational Attainment: Cross-cohort changes among men in Britain, Working Paper 36, Gender Equality Network, c/o Faculty of Social and Political Sciences/University of Cambridge
Links: Paper
Date: 2009-Dec
An article examined research into the role of family life in the reproduction of class-related educational inequalities.
Source: Sarah Irwin, 'Locating where the action is: quantitative and qualitative lenses on families, schooling and structures of social inequality', Sociology, Volume 43 Issue 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Dec
A report for the watchdog for access to higher education said that university bursaries and scholarships were helping to overcome financial barriers to higher education: but that more needed to be done to improve awareness and understanding, particularly at key decision-making stages.
Source: Claire Callender, Awareness, Take-Up and Impact of Institutional Bursaries and Scholarships in England, Office for Fair Access
Links: Report | OFFA press release | UUK press release | 1994 Group press release | UCU press release | NUS press release | Telegraph report | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2009-Dec
A report outlined the research evidence concerning the forms of family/parental support that had the most positive impact on children's development and educational achievement. What parents did to help their children learn at home was much more important than involving parents in school-based activities.
Source: Alma Harris and Janet Goodall, Helping Families Support Children's Success at School, Save the Children
Links: Report | IOE press release
Date: 2009-Dec
A report highlighted 'stark gaps' in education time and resources outside school. Children of parents with degrees reported that they spent on average twice as much time on homework, reading, and study in the home as children from less well educated families. Middle-class children were also over four times as likely to say that they had more than 200 books in the home, and two and a half times as likely to have a computer.
Source: Andy Wiggins, Robert Coe, Karen Jones and Man-Yee Kan, Evidence of Educational Support Outside of School, Sutton Trust
Links: Report | Sutton Trust press release | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Dec
The Supreme Court ruled that a Jewish school was guilty of race discrimination for refusing places to pupils it did not consider to be ethnically Jewish.
Source: E, R (on the application of) v Governing Body of JFS & Anor, UKSC 15 (2009), United Kingdom Supreme Court
Links: Text of judgement | Supreme Court press release | EHRC press release | BHA press release | Accord press release | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2009-Dec
A new book said that educational policy and debate were increasingly dominated by the 'confused ideology' of egalitarianism. It criticized the use of education as a tool for promoting wider social equality.
Source: David Cooper, Illusions of Equality, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-Dec
Provisional statistics were published for GCSE attainment in England in 2009 by pupil characteristics. The gender gap narrowed by 0.9 percentage points compare with the previous year. Attainment by black and mixed-ethnicity groups increased by more than the overall national rise. The attainment gap between pupils on free school meals and other pupils also continued to narrow slowly. (GCSE = General Certificate of Secondary Education)
Source: Key Stage 4 Attainment by Pupil Characteristics, in England 2008/09, Statistical First Release 34/2009, Department for Children, Schools and Families
Links: SFR | DCSF press release | ATL press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report | BBC report | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2009-Dec
Researchers evaluated a programme designed to improve the academic performance of black children in primary schools in England.
Source: Uvanney Maylor, Sarah Smart, Kuyok Abol Kuyok and Alistair Ross, Black Children's Achievement Programme Evaluation, Research Report RR177, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | Brief | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2009-Nov
A report examined career decision-making by university applicants, and the factors that determined opportunities and labour market outcomes – based on information collected via the second longitudinal questionnaire of applicants around a year after most had started full-time higher education. A significant proportion of respondents were worried about paying 'essential' costs (such as accommodation), and were anticipating high levels of debt. A large proportion of students who had not entered HE at all cited costs as a deterrent.
Source: Kate Purcell et al., Plans, Aspirations and Realities: Taking stock of higher education and career choices one year on – Findings from the Second Futuretrack Survey of 2006 applicants for UK Higher Education, Higher Education Career Services Unit
Links: Report | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2009-Nov
A new book examined the impact of parental employment or unemployment on the educational and emotional well-being of their children.
Source: Linda Cusworth, The Impact of Parental Employment: Young people, well-being and educational achievement, Ashgate Publications (01235 827730)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-Nov
A report examined the perspectives of teachers and minority-ethnic pupils in schools in which the majority of students were white British. It might be useful to consider 'racist incidents' within a wider context, rather than labelling them as isolated or ring-fenced events.
Source: Yaa Asare, 'Them and Us': Race equality interventions in predominantly white schools, Runnymede Trust (020 7377 9222)
Date: 2009-Nov
Researchers examined what parents wanted from schools and whether different types of parents had similar preferences. More educated and higher socio-economic status (SES) parents were more likely to cite academic standards, whereas less educated and lower SES parents were more likely to cite proximity. More advantaged parents also chose schools with much lower proportions of pupils eligible for free school meals: although parents did not admit to choosing schools on the basis of their social composition, this is what happened in practice.
Source: Simon Burgess, Ellen Greaves, Anna Vignoles and Deborah Wilson, Parental Choice of Primary School in England: What 'type' of school do parents choose?, Working Paper 09/224, Centre for Market and Public Organisation/University of Bristol (0117 954 6943)
Links: Working paper | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Nov
A think-tank report said that the state school system was failing those most reliant on it – in particular, white working-class and black Caribbean boys. It was failing to teach them basic skills, to socialize them, and to open up opportunities to the brightest of them. The cause of this crisis was the 'capture' of schools and teacher training colleges by the 'education orthodoxy'. Effective teaching methods had been discarded in favour of 'child-centred' learning; teachers were treated as operatives rather than professionals; standards of discipline had 'collapsed'; and the curriculum had been 'destroyed'.
Source: Harriet Sergeant, Wasted: The betrayal of white working class and black Caribbean boys, Centre for Policy Studies (020 7222 4488)
Links: Report | CPS press release | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Nov
A paper examined the relationship between the income of the family a child was growing up in and the education level the child eventually obtained. It concluded that inequality in educational attainment at age 16 by family background (income or class) had lessened between generations born in the 1970s and those born in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Source: Paul Gregg and Lindsey Macmillan, Family Income and Education in the Next Generation: Exploring income gradients in education for current cohorts of youth, Working Paper 09/223, Centre for Market and Public Organisation/University of Bristol (0117 954 6943)
Links: Working paper
Date: 2009-Nov
A report made policy recommendations designed to address educational disadvantage, drawing on teachers' experiences in some of the most challenging schools. It called for: a new system of school accountability, under which overall grades would be removed from school report cards, and schools would be required to report their success with pupils taking academic and vocational routes separately; locally led plans to enhance the 'unsatisfactory' support for vocational aspirations; locally agreed admissions policies to help all schools achieve a balanced social intake; and an end to 'setting' by ability.
Source: Lessons from the Front 2009, Teach First
Links: Report | NASUWT press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2009-Nov
The charities regulator said that charities, including private schools, could have up to five years to make any necessary changes if they were not meeting the new 'public benefit' requirement.
Source: Press release 7 October 2009, Charity Commission for England and Wales (0870 333 0123)
Links: Guardian report
Date: 2009-Oct
The inspectorate for education and children's services said that private faith schools gave pupils a strong sense of personal worth and helped them understand the importance of being a good citizen. But more than 1 in 5 failed to teach children about other religions.
Source: Independent Faith Schools, HMI 090093, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (07002 637833)
Links: Report | Hansard | BHA press release | Telegraph report | BBC report | Local Government Chronicle report
Date: 2009-Oct
Campaigners said that selection by schools at age 11 could be phased out within 10 years. They set out how this could be done without disruption to children's education, or to parents and teachers, or with any significant expenditure.
Source: Ending Rejection at 11+, Comprehensive Future (020 8947 5758)
Links: Pamphlet | Comprehensive Future press release | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Sep
A study provided a synthesis of international evidence on widening participation in higher education, and the initiatives that would be most applicable and useful in an English context.
Source: Jocey Quinn, Kuyok Kuyok and Sarah Minty, Widening Participation: Synthesis of international evidence, Research Report 2, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (0870 150 2500)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Sep
A new book presented the case for widening or increasing participation in higher education for students from a range of socio-economic, ethnic/racial, and gender backgrounds, and for adults across the life-course.
Source: Miriam David et al. (eds.), Improving Learning by Widening Participation in Higher Education, Routledge (01264 343071)
Links: Summary
Date: 2009-Sep
A report said that thousands of pupils from state schools were not applying to the most selective university degree courses despite having the A-levels to secure a place. Pupils from top private schools on average made twice as many applications to leading research universities than their peers from state comprehensive schools with similar A-level results.
Source: Applications, Offers and Admissions to Research Led Universities, Sutton Trust (020 8788 3223) and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Report | UUK press release | UCU press release | NUS press release | BBC report | FT report | Telegraph report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Aug
A survey found that some universities were failing to provide accessible accommodation or facilities to disabled students: 1 in 10 disabled students were not able to live or eat on university sites.
Source: University Challenge, Muscular Dystrophy Campaign (020 7803 4800)
Links: Report | MDC press release | Community Care report | BBC report
Date: 2009-Aug
A report said that thousands of pupils from state schools were not applying to the most selective university degree courses despite having the A-levels to secure a place. Pupils from top private schools on average made twice as many applications to leading research universities than their peers from state comprehensive schools with similar A-level results.
Source: Applications, Offers and Admissions to Research Led Universities, Sutton Trust (020 8788 3223) and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Links: Report | UUK press release | UCU press release | NUS press release | BBC report | FT report | Telegraph report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Aug
A report said that over the period 2002-03 to 2007-08, full-time young participation in higher education in England for the top three socio-economic classes had fallen from 45.2 per cent to 41.2 per cent, whereas for the bottom four socio-economic classes it had increased from 18.1 per cent to 21.0 per cent. The socio-economic class gap between these two participation rates had consequently narrowed by 7 percentage points.
Source: Full-time Young Participation by Socio-Economic Class (FYPSEC): 2009 Update, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (0870 150 2500)
Links: Report | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2009-Jul
A report proposed a pilot scheme designed to support a proportion of academically able students from local schools serving disadvantaged areas on a pathway to a research-led university, while raising aspirations in local schools more widely. The pilot would aim to relay the message to pupils at an early stage that if they achieved highly they would get an admissions guarantee with commensurate financial and other support.
Source: Innovative University Admissions Worldwide: A Percent Scheme for the UK?, Sutton Trust (020 8788 3223)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Jul
The inspectorate for education and children's services examined the impact of integrated services on children, parents, and families in 20 children's centres in deprived areas. The effective integration of services was having a positive impact in terms of support for children and parents in over half of the centres visited. Three centres were judged as making an outstanding difference. Challenges remained, however, in relation to onward links with primary schools, reaching the most vulnerable families, and developing data on outcomes for parents and children. The least effective partnership working seen was between the children's centres and Jobcentre Plus.
Source: The Impact of Integrated Services on Children and their Families in Sure Start Children's Centres, HMI 080253, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (07002 637833)
Links: Report | OFSTED press release | New Start report
Date: 2009-Jul
The education inspectorate in Wales said that funding from the Welsh Assembly Government 'RAISE' initiative, designed to help economically and socially disadvantaged pupils, had had a positive impact on pupils' attitudes, attendance, and behaviour.
Source: The Impact of RAISE 2008-2009: Evaluation of the impact of RAISE funding on raising the levels of performance of disadvantaged pupils – A report on the third year of the programme, HM Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales (029 2044 6446)
Links: Report | HMCIETW press release | BBC report
Date: 2009-Jul
A study examined the likely impact of changes in tuition fees on learners' decisions to participate in further education. The evidence suggested that price did affect the demand for further education. However, the size of the impact appeared to vary significantly, both between different types of further education course and between different types of learners.
Source: London Economics, Estimating the Effect of Raising Private Contributions to Further Education Fees on Participation and Funding, Research Paper 1, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (0870 150 2500)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Jul
Researchers examined a pilot for disadvantaged children at age 2, which provided free early years education with the aim of improving children's social and cognitive outcomes. Overall, the pilot did not significantly improve the children's development, their parent-child relationship, or the home learning environment (relative to a matched comparison group). But parents felt that the setting had positively affected their ability to parent, together with their physical health and mental well-being; and had provided them with opportunities for self-improvement.
Source: Ruth Smith et al., Early Education Pilot for Two Year Old Children: Evaluation, Research Report RR134, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | Brief | DCSF press release
Date: 2009-Jul
An article said that students who attended private schools went on to obtain an average of 30 per cent higher earnings than state school students.
Source: Francis Green, Stephen Machin, Richard Murphy and Yu Zhu, 'What have private schools done for (some of) us?', Significance, Volume 6 Issue 2
Links: Abstract | BBC report
Date: 2009-Jun
A study found that 9.5 per cent of pupils at private schools were from postcodes where there was above-average incidence of eligibility for free school meals – compared with 5.1 per cent of pupils in the 200 most academically successful schools in the maintained sector.
Source: Press release 4 June 2009, Independent Schools Council (020 7766 7070)
Links: ISC press release
Date: 2009-Jun
Researchers found that ethnic segregation in schools and neighbourhoods in England had neither a negative nor a positive effect on how pupils from different ethnic groups performed at school.
Source: Simon Burgess, Deborah Wilson, Adam Briggs and Anete Piebalga, Segregation and the Attainment of Minority Ethnic Pupils in England, Working Paper 08/204, Centre for Market and Public Organisation/University of Bristol (0117 954 6943)
Links: Working paper | Bristol University press release
Date: 2009-Jun
A report examined the ways in which outreach was being delivered by children's centres and schools offering access to extended services. It said that children's centres and schools were successfully engaging 'hard-to-reach' families – including those affected by poverty, poor living environments, health problems, and other features of social exclusion.
Source: Capacity, Outreach to Children and Families: A Scoping Study, Research Report RR116, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2009-Jun
A report examined whether a benchmarking system would support the achievement of best value for money from Sure Start children's centres, and whether it would support delivery of their key objectives. It was concluded that the wide variety of management/financial arrangements and structures would make a benchmarking system difficult to implement.
Source: HEDRA, Sure Start Children's Centres: Financial Benchmarking to Ensure Value for Money, Research Report RR123, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2009-Jun
A study found that highly able pupils in the most deprived state schools on average achieved half a grade less per GCSE than highly able pupils in the most advantaged schools. One factor contributing to such differences was a 'peer effect', by which pupils benefited from being educated with other pupils with high levels of attainment, and low levels of deprivation. (GCSE = General Certificate of Secondary Education)
Source: Attainment Gaps Between Pupils in the Most Deprived and Advantaged Schools, Sutton Trust (020 8788 3223)
Links: Report | Summary | Guardian report | FT report
Date: 2009-May
A report said that pupils from low-income backgrounds who were given subsidized places at private schools often felt 'estranged and alienated' from their peers and teachers: virtually all spoke of the fact that they could not participate in out-of-school activities – such as field-trips, cultural visits, or foreign exchange trips – because their parents could not afford to finance them.
Source: Sally Power, Andrew Curtis, Geoff Whitty, Tony Edwards and Sonia Exley, 'Embers from the Ashes'? The experience of being an assisted place holder, Sutton Trust (020 8788 3223)
Links: Report | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2009-May
A report examined the change over time in the context, outcomes, and inequalities of secondary schooling in Scotland, in the period 1985-2005.
Source: Linda Croxford, Change Over Time in the Context, Outcomes and Inequalities of Secondary Schooling in Scotland, 1985-2005, Scottish Government (web publication only)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-May
A report examined the influences on educational progress and attainment in early and middle childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. It provided a critical analysis of the different factors that influenced low educational attainment, and identified the questions that remained in dispute, based on a review of the literature on individual, family, and school factors.
Source: Kathryn Duckworth, Rodie Akerman, Leslie Morrison Gutman and John Vorhaus, Influences and Leverages on Low Levels of Attainment: A review of literature and policy initiatives, Research Report 31, Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning/University of London (020 7612 6291)
Links: Report
Date: 2009-Apr
An organization representing new universities proposed a plan designed to improve access to university for those who had lost their jobs or were facing long periods of short-time working.
Source: Enrol for Free: The case for a new university offer for those on job seekers allowance and short-time working, Million+ (020 7717 1655)
Links: Paper | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Mar
A report summarized research and statistical evidence on the subject of deprivation and education for pupils between the foundation stage (ages 3-5) and key stage 4 (ages 14-16) in England, in maintained mainstream schools. A second report summarized national and international evidence on the links between deprivation and educational attainment. There was still 'far too strong' a link between family income and achievement at school.
Source: Deprivation and Education: The evidence on pupils in England, foundation stage to key stage 4, Research Report RTP09-01, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260) | Breaking the Link Between Disadvantage and Low Attainment, Department for Children, Schools and Families
Links: Report 1 | Report 2 | BBC report
Date: 2009-Mar
The watchdog for access to higher education said that bursary take-up among students from the lowest income group improved significantly in 2007-08 – up from an estimated 80 per cent to around 90 per cent.
Source: Access Agreement Monitoring: Outcomes for 2007-08, Office for Fair Access (0117 931 7171)
Links: Report | OFFA press release | UUK press release | NUS press release | Conservative Party press release | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Mar
A survey found that 9 out of 10 parents who used Sure Start children's centres were happy with the service they received. The most popular services were childcare and nursery education.
Source: TNS Social, Sure Start Children's Centres: Survey of Parents, Research Report RR083, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | Brief | DCSF press release | Conservative Party press release | Community Care report
Date: 2009-Feb
Two linked reports said that the failure to break the link between deprivation and educational attainment meant that many students from deprived backgrounds could not get into the top universities. Pupils from state school accounted for fewer than two-thirds of sixth-formers with straight 'A' grades at A-level, despite making up 86 per cent of those taking the exams.
Source: Joanne Emery, Numbers of A-level Examinations Taken by Candidates in England 2006 and the Percentages Attaining 3 or More A Grades, Statistics Report 6, Cambridge Assessment (01223 55331) | Joanne Emery, Numbers Achieving 3 A Grades in Specific A-level Combinations by School Type and LEA, Statistics Report 9, Cambridge Assessment (01223 55331)
Links: Report 6 | Report 9 | Cambridge Assessment press release | Cambridge University press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2009-Feb
A report said that parents spent on average £683 each year year on children at state primary school, and £1,195 at secondary school. One-half of all parents felt pressured into contributing towards voluntary school trips. 4 in 10 said that they were finding these costs difficult to meet. The government expressed concern and published revised guidance for schools.
Source: Mark Peters, Hannah Carpenter and Gareth Edwards with Nick Coleman, Cost of Schooling 2007, Research Report RR060, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | Brief | DCSF press release | CPAG press release | Citizens Advice press release | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2009-Feb
A report by a committee of MPs said that progress in widening participation in higher education had been slow, despite a substantial amount of expenditure by the government.
Source: Widening Participation In Higher Education, Fourth Report (Session 2008-09), HC 226, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NIACE press release | BMA press release | THES report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Feb
An article examined the engagement of users in service delivery, service planning, and monitoring/evaluation activities for children's centres in Greater Merseyside (in north west England). Research indicated that a lack of time to implement (and develop trust in) the new arrangements, a lack of awareness by users about participation, and a broader remit for children's centres were all hampering the involvement of users. Without such participation there was a real risk that the existing needs of the most disadvantaged groups would not be adequately addressed.
Source: Simon Pemberton and Jennifer Mason, 'Co-production and Sure Start children's centres: reflecting upon users', perspectives and implications for service delivery, planning and evaluation', Social Policy and Society, Volume 8 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Jan
An article attempted to integrate three strands of research into risk and resilience: genetic and mental-health factors, the findings of cohort studies, and those of other investigations of educational outcomes. A very wide range of factors, many of them related to disadvantage, had a bearing on such outcomes: but none deterministically. Intelligence, conduct, and emotional disorders were all found to influence academic achievement to varying degrees, as did a number of aspects of family, school, and the wider social environment. Aspects that contributed to resilience were identified, and the article concluded with a discussion of interventions to enhance resilience.
Source: Robert Cassen, Leon Feinstein and Philip Graham, 'Educational outcomes: adversity and resilience', Social Policy and Society, Volume 8 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Jan
