The limits of social class in explaining ethnic gaps in educational attainment

Abstract

This paper reports an analysis of the educational attainment and progress between age 11 and age 14 of over 14,500 students from the nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE). The mean attainment gap in national tests at age 14 between White British and several ethnic minority groups were large, more than three times the size of the gender gap, but at the same time only about one-third of the size of the social class gap.Socio-economic variables could account for the attainment gaps for Black African, Pakistani and Bangladeshi students, but not for Black Caribbean students. Further controls for parental and student attitudes, expectations and behaviours indicated minority ethnic groups were on average more advantaged on these measures than White British students, but this was not reflected proportionately in their levels of attainment. Black Caribbean students were distinctive as the only group making less progress than White British students between age 11 and 14 and this could not be accounted for by any of the measured contextual variables. Possible explanations for the White British-Black Caribbean gap are considered.

Predictors of Social Service Contact among Teenagers in England

“…So children and young people are at the centre of a set of proximal, then ever extending concentric circles of distal, interacting relationships. Sidebotham et al (2001) and Strand (2011) follow a similar strategy in their analysis of general population cohort studies in the UK. We borrow from Strand, who works with LSYPE, in distinguishing four broad domains, within which we can identify potential influences on young people's behaviour, this being the reason for social service contact as reported in this cohort study.…”

The Effects of Social Service Contact on Teenagers in England

“…The empirical strategy addresses these selection problems. The work of Bronfenbrenner (1977;1979) and Strand (2011) As the treatment model is a doubly robust estimator, independent variables are also used to control for the outcome variables (educational attainment, aspiration, mental health and locus of control). In each case, the control variables are selected by running logistic regressions with the four broad domains and the statistically significant variables are used (results not shown).…”

The influence of socioeconomic status on changes in young people’s expectations of applying to university

“…Fumagalli (2012) finds that young people from higher SES families are more responsive to new information about their academic attainment in updating their expectations of applying to university. Strand (2011) reports a correlation between aspirations and both attainment at age 14 and academic progress between ages 11 and 14.…”