‘People like me don’t do well at school’: The roles of identity compatibility and school context in explaining the socioeconomic attainment gap

Abstract

Background. School students who are eligible for reduced or free school meals (FSM)an indicator of economic disadvantagehave lower academic attainment than their peers.Aims. We investigated whether identity compatibilitythe perceived compatibility between one's social identities and the stereotype of a high-achieving studentcontributes to this socioeconomic attainment gap, and whether the association between socioeconomic status and identity compatibility is moderated by school context. Sample. Our sample was 4,629 students aged 15-16 years old across 29 schools in England.Method. We assessed students' perceptions of identity compatibility via self-report questionnaires 8 months prior to them taking national, standardized exams.

“Not what I Can, but what I Should”

“…The parallel multiple mediation model revealed that part of the association between students' subjective socioeconomic status and educational aspirations can be explained by varying levels of identity compatibility between students coming from different socioeconomic backgrounds. These results mirror the findings on the influence of identity compatibility on other educational outcomes, such as achievement on standardized national exams in the UK (Easterbrook et al, 2022), university choice (Niuwenhuis et al, 2019), and levels of university identification and social integration (Jetten et al, 2008;Matschke et al, 2022;Veldman et al, 2019). Interestingly, the results on this sample didn't support the mediation effect of students' school achievement in explaining the social class educational aspiration gap.…”

“…Furthermore, identity incompatibility was found to mediate the relationship between lower socioeconomic status and lower identification with one's university (Jetten et al, 2008;Matschke et al, 2022), less positive affect, greater levels of depressive symptoms (Iyer et al, 2009), lower social integration in university, as well as higher academic and social concerns (Veldman et al, 2019). When examining the effects of identity compatibility among younger students, a recent study emphasized its importance in explaining the achievement gap among youth from different socioeconomic backgrounds, suggesting its detrimental effects on educational equality which extends even beyond past performance (Easterbrook et al, 2022). Ultimately, these findings suggest that identity compatibility can partially explain differences in educational attainment between students coming from different socioeconomic backgrounds.…”

Children's developing understanding of economic inequality and their place within it

“…Lending some support to this argument, Easterbrook et al (2022) found that students who believed that people from their social background were less likely to do well at school (termed identity incompatibility) got significantly worse GCSE (standardized national exams taken at age 16) grades. As might be expected, this belief was significantly stronger among students eligible for free school meals (FSM; an indicator used by the English Department for Education for low household income; the vast majority of children eligible for FSM are from economically deprived households).…”

Introduction to the special issue: nuances of social class and socioeconomic status ( Introducción a este monográfico: los matices del concepto de clase social y del nivel socioeconómico )

“…Los valores y las orientaciones culturales influyen en la interpretación y el significado de ambos conceptos (Miyamoto, 2017; Miyamoto et al, 2018), como también influyen las características específicas del contexto sociocultural, socioecológico y/o sociohistórico local (Easterbrook & Hadden, 2021; Easterbrook et al, 2019; Manstead et al, 2020). Consideremos los siguientes ejemplos: el efecto de la educación en el sentimiento de exclusión social varía en función del grado en que una sociedad puede considerarse ‘escolarizada’, según la tasa de personas que alcanzan una educación superior (Van Noord et al, 2021); el efecto de cumplir los requisitos para el comedor escolar gratuito en los procesos identitarios depende del contexto sociocultural concreto de cada centro escolar (Easterbrook, Nieuwenhuis et al, 2022); los procesos intergrupales basados en indicadores de NSE varían en función del nivel y el discurso en torno a la desigualdad en cada país (Grigoryan et al, 2022) y la relación entre bienestar y el nivel de ingresos de los vecinos es más intensa en contextos con niveles superiores de desigualdad económica (Cheung & Lucas, 2016). La discusión teórica sobre estos efectos contextuales de la clase social y el NSE es relativamente escasa, y animamos a los investigadores a centrar sus esfuerzos en el desarrollo de teorías de la clase social y el NSE que contribuyan a dilucidar aquellas variables contextuales que puedan moderar sus efectos (Easterbrook & Hadden, 2021; Easterbrook et al, 2019; Manstead et al, 2020), aprovechando la oportunidad que la ‘revolución de la heterogeneidad’ brinda para el desarrollo teórico (Bryan et al, 2021; Easterbrook et al, 2021).…”

“…Cultural values and orientations affect understandings and meanings of social class and SES (Miyamoto, 2017; Miyamoto et al, 2018), as do the specific features of the local sociocultural, socioecological and/or sociohistorical context (Easterbrook & Hadden, 2021; Easterbrook et al, 2019; Manstead et al, 2020). Consider the following examples: The effect of education on feeling left out of society varies according to the extent that a society can be considered ‘schooled’, as indicated by the proportion of higher educated (Van Noord et al, 2021); the effect of being eligible for free school meals on identity processes varies depending on the specific sociocultural context of each school (Easterbrook, Nieuwenhuis et al, 2022); intergroup processes based on SES indicators vary by the level and discourse around inequality in a country (Grigoryan et al, 2022); and the relation between well-being and the income of one’s neighbour is stronger in contexts with higher levels of economic inequality (Cheung & Lucas, 2016). Theorizing about such contextual effects of social class and SES is relatively scant, and we encourage investigators to focus their efforts on developing theories of social class and SES that elucidate contextual variables that are likely to moderate their effects (Easterbrook & Hadden, 2021; Easterbrook et al, 2019; Manstead et al, 2020), seizing the opportunity that the ‘heterogeneity revolution’ offers for theoretical development (Bryan et al, 2021; Easterbrook et al, 2021).…”