The role of education and skills in driving social mobility (Dr

January 15, 2018 | Author: Anonymous | Category: Social Science, Sociology
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The role of education and skills in driving social mobility Claire Crawford

© Institute for Fiscal Studies

Social mobility and the role of education • Social mobility: link between SES of parents and children • Role of education as a transmission mechanism: – Children’s educational attainment is strongly related to parents’ SES – There are large wage returns to educational attainment

• Focus on the first today: – Evidence on the link between educational attainment and family background in the UK, including over time and relative to other nations – What drives these relationships? What types of policies are likely to be effective at reducing SES gaps in educational attainment?

© Institute for Fiscal Studies

Summary • Strong relationship between children’s educational attainment and family background in England – Differences emerge early and widen as children get older – Stronger than elsewhere and strengthening over time (until recently)

• There has been some success at encouraging children from lower SES backgrounds to reach “expected” levels of achievement – But children from higher SES backgrounds continue to improve too, highlighting difficulty of targeting relative measure of social mobility

• Large SES gaps persist in HE participation – But mainly driven by differences in attainment at 16 and 18, so earlier intervention is key to widening participation – Most ethnic minority groups are more likely to go to HE than White British students, although less likely to attend high status institutions

• Some thoughts on which policies are most likely to improve education/skills amongst those from the lowest SES backgrounds © Institute for Fiscal Studies

Percentile of the test score distribution

Differences emerge early and widen over time 80

Socio-economic gaps in cognitive test scores

70 60 50 40 30 20 Age 3

Highest

Age 5

Quintile 4

Age 7

Age 11

Quintile 3

Age 14

Quintile 2

Source: Goodman & Gregg (2010), Poorer children’s educational attainment: how important are attitudes and behaviours?, Report to the JRF, available at: http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/educational-attainment-poor-children © Institute for Fiscal Studies

Age 16

Lowest

Stronger relationship between SES and educational attainment in England than elsewhere France Canada Portugal Belgium, Flemish Iceland Turkey Japan Finland Denmark Spain Switzerland Belgium, French Netherlands Italy Greece Norway Austria Sweden Australia Czech Republic New Zealand Ireland USA Slovak Republic Korea Germany Hungary Scotland England 0

5

10

15

20

25

Source: Hanushek & Woessmann (2011), The Economics of International Differences in Educational Achievement, in Hanushek, Machin & Woessmann (eds), Handbooks in Economics, Vol. 3, pp. 89-200, North-Holland, Netherlands. © Institute for Fiscal Studies

30

35

Some evidence that this relationship has strengthened over time . . . Degree acquisition by age 23 by parental income 50%

46%

45% 40%

37%

37ppts

35% 30ppts

30% 25%

20%

20%

14ppts

15% 10%

9%

7%

6%

5% 0% NCDS 1982

Bottom 20%

BCS 1993

Middle 60%

Top 20%

BHPS 1999

Difference

Source: Blanden & Machin (2004), Educational inequality and the expansion of UK higher education, Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Special Issue on the Economics of Education, Vol. 51, pp. 230-249. © Institute for Fiscal Studies

. . . at least until recently: gap in terms of % getting 5 A*-C grades in GCSEs and equivalents has fallen % pupils getting 5 A*-C grades in GCSEs and equivalents 90%

35%

80%

30%

70% 25%

60% 50%

20%

40%

15%

30%

10%

20% 5%

10% 0%

0%

2004

2005

FSM

2006

2007

Non-FSM

2008

2009

2010

Difference (RH axis)

2010-2011 figures based on SFR 03/2012: GCSE and Equivalent Attainment by Pupil Characteristics in England. 2006-2009 figures based on SFR 37/2010: GCSE and Equivalent Attainment by Pupil Characteristics in England. 2004-2005 figures based on authors’ calculations using Key Stage 4 and PLASC data. © Institute for Fiscal Studies

2011

But not when focusing on GCSEs including English and Maths: equivalents are key % pupils getting 5 A*-C grades including English and Maths 70%

35%

60%

30%

50%

25%

40%

20%

30%

15%

20%

10%

10%

5%

0%

0% 2004

2005

FSM

2006

2007

Non-FSM

2008

2009

2010

Difference (RH axis)

2010-2011 figures based on SFR 03/2012: GCSE and Equivalent Attainment by Pupil Characteristics in England. 2006-2009 figures based on SFR 37/2010: GCSE and Equivalent Attainment by Pupil Characteristics in England. 2004-2005 figures based on authors’ calculations using Key Stage 4 and PLASC data. © Institute for Fiscal Studies

2011

Sizeable SES gaps in HE participation remain, including by type of HE institution attended % students going to university at age 18/19 60%

52% 50%

37%

40%

28%

30%

21%

19%

20%

12%

12%

10%

7%

4%

2% 0% Lowest

2

Any university

3

4

"High status" university

Source: authors’ calculations based on linked schools and universities administrative data for the cohorts first eligible to start university in 2004-05 and 2005-06 (who sat their GCSEs in 2001-02 and 2002-03) © Institute for Fiscal Studies

Highest

But these differences are almost entirely explained by differences in prior attainment % students going to university at age 18/19 100%

25% of highest SES group get top A-levels

90% 80%

Only 3% of lowest SES group get top A-levels

70% 60% 50%

40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

Overall

No A-level points

1-180 points (up to DDD)

Highest SES quintile

181-300 points 301+ points (DDD-BBB) (BBB or above)

Lowest SES quintile

Source: based on work in Chowdry, Crawford, Dearden, Goodman & Vignoles (2010), Widening participation in higher education: analysis using linked administrative data, IFS Working Paper No. W10/04. © Institute for Fiscal Studies

What about amongst groups of concern? (Poor White men, Black men and Pakistani & Bangladeshi women) •

Ethnic differences in cognitive skills are evident early (Dearden & Sibieta, 2010) but narrow throughout secondary school (Wilson, Burgess & Briggs, 2006)



Most ethnic minority groups outperform whites in terms of HE participation . . . 80%

HE participation by gender and ethnic background

70% 60%

46%

50% 40%

35%

33%

40% 34%

32%

28%

30% 27% 19%

20% 10%

7%

19%

9%

0%

Males © Institute for Fiscal Studies

Females

38% 30%

What about amongst groups of concern? (Poor White men, Black men and Pakistani & Bangladeshi women) •

But things are not so rosy in terms of HE participation at high status institutions (though most of the difference can be explained by differences in prior attainment) 35%

HE participation at high status institutions by gender and ethnicity

30% 25% 20% 15% 10%

5%

11%

10%

9%

7% 1%1%

9%

9% 6%

5% 3%

6% 4%

0%

Males

Females

Source: authors’ calculations based on linked schools and universities administrative data for the cohorts first eligible to start university in 2004-05 and 2005-06 (who sat their GCSEs in 2001-02 and 2002-03) © Institute for Fiscal Studies

7%

What drives the relationship between family background and educational attainment? • Decompose the gaps in attainment between rich and poor pupils

• Factors will explain a large proportion of the gap if they: – Are highly correlated with socio-economic status – Have a large effect on attainment conditional on other characteristics

• Goodman & Gregg (2010) and accompanying studies find that these factors seem to play an important role in perpetuating SES gaps: – Early home learning environment – Expectations/aspirations for education – Locus of control (belief that own actions make a difference) – Behaviour – Material factors (e.g. access to internet/computer)

• Suggests potentially important role for policy assuming that these relationships are causal and that these factors are malleable © Institute for Fiscal Studies

A note of caution: HE expectations amongst young people are high across the board 90%

78%

80% 70% 60% 50%

64%

58% 50%

51%

40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Lowest

2

HE participation at age 18/19

3

4

Expectations at age 14

Source: Chowdry, Crawford & Goodman (2011), The role of attitudes and behaviours in explaining socio-economic differences in attainment at age 16, Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 59-76 © Institute for Fiscal Studies

Highest

Which types of policies are most likely to improve attainment/skills amongst the poorest? • Early interventions have the potential to be more productive than later interventions – Strongest evidence is for high intensity interventions, e.g. FamilyNurse Partnership; mixed evidence on lower intensity interventions – But cannot just intervene once and then sit back; early interventions are most productive if followed up: consistency matters

• Basic skills (literacy/numeracy) are highly valued in the UK labour market, suggesting a shortage of such skills – Very difficult to improve in adulthood – Good evidence on (cost) effective literacy strategies, e.g. • The Literacy Hour: structured teaching methods affecting all children • Every Child a Reader: intensive 1:1 intervention for very lowest achievers

– Improve outcomes in short run but uncertain how long benefits last

© Institute for Fiscal Studies

Which types of policies are most likely to improve attainment/skills amongst the poorest? • Teachers matter: – Recruiting and retaining high quality teachers, and helping them to pass on their skills to other teachers is vital – But identifying who will become “good” teachers is difficult; degree class and experience are not good proxies; more evidence needed – Also important to remember that schools are only part of the story; parents/families have at least as great an influence on attainment

• Students need to be supported to make the right decisions – Choice of GCSE and A-level subjects and what to do at 16

• Later interventions may be better targeted non-cognitive skills (e.g. leadership and time management) than cognitive skills – Though evidence remains weak; more is needed

© Institute for Fiscal Studies

Summary • Strong relationship between children’s educational attainment and family background in England – Differences emerge early and widen as children get older – Stronger than elsewhere and strengthening over time (until recently)

• There has been some success at encouraging children from lower SES backgrounds to reach “expected” levels of achievement – But children from higher SES backgrounds continue to improve too, highlighting difficulty of targeting relative measure of social mobility

• Large SES gaps persist in HE participation – But mainly driven by differences in attainment at 16 and 18, so earlier intervention is key to widening participation – Most ethnic minority groups are more likely to go to HE than White British students, although less likely to attend high status institutions

• Some thoughts on which policies are most likely to improve education/skills amongst those from the lowest SES backgrounds © Institute for Fiscal Studies

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