Playford, Chris, Gayle, Vernon, Connelly, Roxanne and Murray, Susan (2016) Parental socioeconomic influences on filial educational attainment : an investigation of Scottish young people and patterns of school level educational performance using administrative data. Contemporary Social Science , 11 (2-3). pp. 183-202. doi:10.1080/21582041.2016.1172728 ISSN 2158-2041.

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Abstract

In Britain there have been manifest changes in the management and organisation of education, but despite these developments there are still persistent inequalities in pupils’ educational outcomes. These inequalities are consequential because school qualifications are known to influence both a pupil’s immediate continuation in education, and their later educational and occupational outcomes.

The Scottish school system is similar to the system in England and Wales but there are a distinctive set of qualifications. From the mid-1980s until 2013 the final years of compulsory schooling led up to Standard Grade qualifications. Standard Grades were similar to the General Certificates of Secondary Education (GCSEs) and are worthy of detailed sociological examination because they were the first major branching point in the Scottish education system.

A specialist dataset using administrative records was constructed for this project. The dataset comprises of young people who undertook Standard Grades in Scottish schools between 2007 and 2011, who were members of the Scottish Longitudinal Study (SLS). We analyse pupil’s subject-area outcomes using a latent variable modelling approach, and explore characteristics associated with the membership of latent educational groups.

The analyses uncovered four main latent educational groups. One group had very positive outcomes and pupils were generally more socially advantaged, another group had very poor outcomes and were generally more socially disadvantaged. There were two ‘middle’ groups, which both had similar moderate overall Standard Grade outcomes, but notably different subject area-level outcomes. We conclude that during school hours these pupils are unlikely to be found drinking Iron Brew WKD in their local parks or at home playing on their Xbox, however they are also unlikely to be filling out university application forms in the next couple of years.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HA Statistics H Social Sciences > HM Sociology L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1603 Secondary Education. High schools
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Education, Secondary -- Examinations -- Scotland, High school students -- Scotland, Grading and marking (Students) -- Scotland, Educational equalization -- Scotland, Social stratification -- Scotland
Journal or Publication Title:	Contemporary Social Science
Publisher:	Routledge
ISSN:	2158-2041
Official Date:	16 May 2016
Dates:	Date Event 16 May 2016 Published 28 March 2016 Accepted 30 October 2015 Submitted
Volume:	11
Number:	2-3
Number of Pages:	24
Page Range:	pp. 183-202
DOI:	10.1080/21582041.2016.1172728
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access (Creative Commons)
Date of first compliant deposit:	11 April 2016
Date of first compliant Open Access:	12 August 2016
Funder:	Economic and Social Research Council (Great Britain) (ESRC), Scottish Funding Council (SFC), Scotland. Chief Scientist Office (CSO), Scotland. Scottish Government
Grant number:	ES/L007487/1 (ESRC)

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