Cognitive Ability, Lifelong Learning, and Social Mobility in Britain: Do Further Qualifications Provide Second Chances for Bright People from Disadvantaged Backgrounds?

Abstract

There is evidence to show that, even among individuals who have relatively high levels of cognitive ability, coming from disadvantaged social origins hinders their chances of securing high levels of qualification and advantaged labour market positions. But it has been argued that lifelong learning could provide second chances for these people through providing an alternative route to high qualifications. The main objective of this paper is to examine this issue. We pose two questions. Does further education enable individuals from disadvantaged origins but with a high level of cognitive ability to improve on their initial levels of qualification? And does any such improvement then lead to better labour market positions, in terms of social class, for these individuals? Based on the complete qualifications histories of individuals in the 1970 British Birth Cohort Study, our analyses show that men and women from disadvantaged origins, especially if of high ability, are indeed able to raise their levels of qualification; but they do so mainly via the attainment of further vocational, rather than further academic, qualifications. And while our results also indicate that acquiring further academic qualifications does improve the upward mobility chances of people of high ability from disadvantaged backgrounds, a similar effect does not show up from acquiring further vocational qualifications. In addition, we find that there remains a substantial 'direct effect' of cognitive ability on class attainment. This suggests that obtaining further academic qualifications is only one channel for upward mobility, and that there are others which are more directly related to ability.

Continuing Education and Stratification at Midlife

“…Our results with respect to stratification are therefore tentative. Our work complements other recent scholarship that asserts the prevalence of off cycle educational transitions and their potential importance to our understanding of social stratification in the United States (Denice 2017, 2019) and in Europe (Bukodi, Bourne and Betthäuser 2018; Virdia and Schindler 2019). We hope others will continue to engage with and extend this work in the future.…”

Formal adult education and socioeconomic inequality: Second chances or Matthew Effects?

“…Some reservation regarding causal relationships should be preserved since few studies have addressed potential unobserved factors as aspirations, motivation, or ability. Indeed as Bukodi et al (2019) have shown, cognitive abilities moderate to some extent the positive effect of advantaged social background on chances to obtain more qualifications in adulthood.…”

“…However, when comparing participants with non-participants, previous research identified that advantaged social origin is an important predictor of participation in adult education (Cincinnato et al, 2016;Elman & O'Rand, 2007). This is particularly the case for educational upgrading (Kosyakova & Gerber, 2019) or for a transition into academic adult education (Bukodi et al, 2019). The reasons for the positive relationships between social origin and participation in adult education are not immediately obvious, since this relationship could be expected to decrease as individuals age and their reliance on their families of origin declines.…”

“…Gerber and Hout (2004) called this "regression toward origins, " a process in which previously downwardly mobile individuals (relative to their origins) improve their occupational position over the life course. In this sense, adult education works as an engine for elite reproduction by enabling individuals with advantaged family background-who struggle initially in the labor market-to regain their original elite status (Kosyakova & Gerber 2019) or to achieve "counter-mobility" back to their social origin (Bukodi, 2017;Bukodi et al, 2019).…”

“…Only several studies delved deeper by looking at various sources of heterogeneity in returns to adult education. For instance, Bukodi et al (2019) found that high ability men and women from disadvantaged origins are more successful at gaining access to vocational rather than academic adult education, but that it is academic adult education that provides the surest route to upward mobility. They concluded that academic adult education is limited in its ability to provide second chances (see also Bukodi, 2017).…”