Are Ethnic Minorities Underrepresented in UK Postgraduate Study?

Wakeling, Paul

doi:10.1111/j.1468-2273.2008.00413.x

Cited by 19 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Other available evidence does not support this interpretation. Firstly, social class inequalities seem to be weakest in very swift transition to postgraduate study after the first degree, but widen over time (HEFCE ; Wakeling ) – this is not consistent with disadvantaged origin graduates ‘catching up’. Secondly, those who enter postgraduate degrees at an older age are more likely to be sponsored by their employer than younger students.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Are postgraduate qualifications the ‘new frontier of social mobility’?

Wakeling

Laurison

2017

British Journal of Sociology

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We investigate the relationship between social origin, postgraduate degree attainment, and occupational outcomes across five British age-group cohorts. We use recently-available UK Labour Force Survey data to conduct a series of logistic regressions of postgraduate (masters or doctorate) degree attainment among those with first degrees, with controls for measures of degree classification, degree subject, age, gender, ethnicity and national origin. We find a marked strengthening of the effect of class origin on degree- and occupational attainment across age cohorts. While for older generations there is little or no difference by class origin in the rates at which first-degree graduates attain postgraduate degrees, those with working-class-origins in the youngest age-group are only about 28 per cent as likely to obtain a postgraduate degree when compared with their peers from privileged origins. Moreover, social origin matters more for occupational destination, even among those with postgraduate degrees, for those in younger age groups. These findings demonstrate the newly important, and increasing, role of postgraduate degrees in reproducing socio-economic inequality in the wake of the substantial expansion of undergraduate and postgraduate education. Our findings lend some support to the Maximally Maintained Inequality thesis, suggesting that gains in equality of access to first-degrees are indeed at risk from postgraduate expansion.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“… UK student numbers by level, 1960–2013 Note : Numbers on chart denote per cent of students who were postgraduate. Source : Wakeling (); Higher Education Statistics Agency Student Record (2007/8–2009/10).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Are postgraduate qualifications the ‘new frontier of social mobility’?

Wakeling

Laurison

2017

British Journal of Sociology

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“…However, a good first degree is normally a prerequisite for admission to postgraduate study, and so under-attainment at the undergraduate level should have consequences for the representation of ethnic minority students on postgraduate programmes. As Wakeling (2009) noted, in the UK the latter nowadays encompass a very large range of diplomas, certificates and other professional programmes as well as the traditional research doctorate and taught one-year master's degrees. Wakeling found that, based on their completion of first degrees, students from ethnic minorities were under-represented among research students and among teacher-training students but not on taught master's programmes (see also Wakeling and Hampden-Thompson 2013, 52-53).…”

Section: Postgraduate Studentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The under-attainment of ethnic minority students in UK higher education: what we know and what we don’t know

Richardson

2013

Journal of Further and Higher Education

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In UK higher education, ethnic differences in academic attainment are ubiquitous and have persisted for many years. They are only partly explained by ethnic differences in entry qualifications. They vary from one institution to another and from one subject area to another. This suggests that they result in part from teaching and assessment practices in different institutions and subjects. We do not really know whether ethnic differences in attainment are reflected in variations in the student experience. We do not know what factors are responsible for the ethnic differences in attainment that remain when differences in entry qualifications have been taken into account. Finally, we do not know what aspects of teaching and assessment practices are responsible for variations in the attainment gap.

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“…That said, it is important to acknowledge the social reality of academic achievement. Educational outcomes are associated with social inequalities; people from disadvantaged backgrounds and some (though not all) ethnic minorities being less likely to achieve the highest grades in school and university (Mountford Zimdars et al, 2015;Boliver, 2013;Wakeling, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Frontline's entry requirements are a degree of 2:1 class or higher and evidence suggests that generally ethnic minorities attain lower honours classifications than white students and this is not explained by other factors such as prior attainment, gender, or subject choice (Wakeling, 2009). Socio-economic background Frontline applicant data contained three items which can be used as socio-economic status indicators: income support receipt, free school meal entitlement, and parental education (Table 1).…”

Section: Ethnicitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Pre-Training Characteristics of Frontline Participants and Mainstream Social Work Students

Maxwell

Scourfield

Villiers

et al. 2017

The British Journal of Social Work

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Frontline is a fast-track training scheme for social workers in children's services in England, which aims to attract 'outstanding' graduates who may not previously have considered a career in social work. This implies that students recruited onto the Frontline programme will be of a higher academic quality than those on mainstream social work courses. This article presents findings from an independent evaluation of the Frontline pilot stage which compared the pre-training characteristics of Frontline participants with those of social work training enrolments in England for 2013-14, derived from Higher Education Statistics Agency data, the Frontline participant database and a questionnaire administered to postgraduate students in five 'high tariff' universities. Frontline participants have significantly better prior academic qualifications than students on mainstream programmes. They are significantly younger, more likely to have parents who are graduates and more likely to have attended private schools. The Frontline programme has fewer minority ethnic students than mainstream programmes. Frontline's objective of attracting those who may not have previously considered social work as a career has featured recruitment of a more socially advantaged and less diverse group of entrants. How likely Frontline trainees are to stay in the profession remains to be seen.

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Are Ethnic Minorities Underrepresented in UK Postgraduate Study?

Cited by 19 publications

References 22 publications

Are postgraduate qualifications the ‘new frontier of social mobility’?

Are postgraduate qualifications the ‘new frontier of social mobility’?

The under-attainment of ethnic minority students in UK higher education: what we know and what we don’t know

The Pre-Training Characteristics of Frontline Participants and Mainstream Social Work Students

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