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Participation In Higher Education: Aspirations, Attainment And Social Background

Croll, Paul; Attwood, Gaynor

Authors

Paul Croll



Abstract

The recent report of the Milburn Review into Social Mobility highlights the under-representation of young people from lower socio-economic groups in higher education and encourages universities and others to act to remedy this situation as a contribution to greater social mobility. The paper uses data from the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England to examine the relationship between social background, attainment and university participation. The results show that differences in school-level attainment associated with social background are by far the most important explanation for social background differences in university attendance. However, there remains a small proportion of the participation gap that is not accounted for by attainment. It is also the case that early intentions for higher education participation are highly predictive of actual participation. The results suggest that although there may be some scope for universities to act to improve participation by people from less advantaged backgrounds, a much more important focus of action is on improving the school-level achievement of these students. © 2013 Copyright 2013 Society for Educational Studies.

Citation

Croll, P., & Attwood, G. (2013). Participation In Higher Education: Aspirations, Attainment And Social Background. British Journal of Educational Studies, 61(2), 187-202. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2013.787386

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jan 1, 2013
Journal British Journal of Educational Studies
Print ISSN 0007-1005
Electronic ISSN 1467-8527
Publisher Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 61
Issue 2
Pages 187-202
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2013.787386
Keywords aspiration, attainment, higher education participation, school attainment, social background,
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/931673
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2013.787386