Schooling and unequal outcomes in youth and adulthood

The role of schooling in determining educational attainment, occupational outcomes and social mobility remains high on the policy agenda. Are certain types of schools or schools with certain characteristics more successful than others and why? Do some types of school suit some pupils better than others? To what extent is schooling implicated in social and educational inequalities in Britain? In a time of increasing school diversity, selectivity and marketisation, these questions are more salient than ever. The 1970 British Cohort Study should be a prime data source for addressing these and related questions. This dataset provides a rich range of family background and ability measures, providing a substantial advantage in dealing with the issue of selectivity into the different types of school. However, work using the 1970 cohort has previously been hampered by the absence of secondary school data for the majority of the cohort members.
The purpose of this project is twofold:
1. To repair and enhance the 1986 wave of data of the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70). Due to a schools strike in 1986, data on secondary schools are only available for 40% of the sample. In addition, the majority of the cognitive tests taken by the cohort members in 1986 were never deposited. This project will derive and deposit new variables which will greatly enhance the value of the BCS70 dataset for researchers interested in education, social mobility and related areas.
2. To use the newly enhanced data to conduct a programme of multidisciplinary research addressing substantive research questions of significant policy interest regarding the short and long term consequences of different primary and secondary school contexts across a range of domains.

This project will enhance the value of one of ESRCs major data investments. At present, the BCS70 is under-exploited, and this data enhancement could help BCS70 achieve levels of research and publications more in line with the older 1958 cohort. The project will also provide rigorous substantive research by a multi-disciplinary team, combining insights across the disciplines of sociology, economics and social statistics.

The children's completed tests from 1986 have been preserved and scanned, and will be keyed-in and processed. Information on the schools attended will be filled in from two sources; the 1986 Schools Census, and a retrospective item that the BCS70 survey members are being asked to complete at the latest survey, which is being carried out throughout 2012 (at age 42). New variables will be derived, tested for reliability, fully documented, and deposited for use by the wider research community.

We will be able to use these exciting new data to analyse a range of outcomes both during the teenage years and into adulthood (age 42 for BCS70 and age 50 for NCDS). Rather than just looking at overall test scores and qualification levels, we will examine whether schooling makes more difference for qualifications as opposed to cognition, and whether the subjects of qualifications achieved at school and beyond varied by school attended, and the link between schooling and attendance at highly selective universities. We will examine wider social, psychological and behavioural outcomes of schooling, taking a life-course approach to issues such as behavioural difficulties, well-being, depression and attitudes. We will extend the knowledge base on schooling and social mobility, and will investigate the extent to which the effects of school type can be accounted for by factors other than qualifications and cognition. For example, do 'soft' skills and characteristics such as self-confidence, aspirations and attitudes play a role?

We will use advanced quantitative methods to analyse our data, but we will communicate our findings to a wide range of non-academic audiences by actively engaging with the media, offering workshops, and publishing non-technical briefings.

We will engage research users through publishing non-technical papers and reports, through regular updates and news on the project's website, through engaging with the media, and through running workshops. We will draw on the expertise of our advisory panel (see Pathways to Impact) for assistance in how best to reach these groups.

1. The research has potential to increase the effectiveness of public policy on education and social mobility, by providing a stronger evidence base for policy. We expect the research to benefit UK government departments (especially, but not limited to, the Department for Education), government departments in the devolved administrations, and not for profit organisations such as think tanks working in this area (for example the Sutton Trust, IPPR, Demos). Public policy regarding aspects of schooling such as private schools, selective schools, faith schools and single-sex schools has often been made on a primarily ideological rather than evidence-based basis. This research will seek to challenge conventional thinking in this area, whether on the left or the right, where the evidence justifies this.

2. The research will also inform parents, teachers and the general public about the impacts of attending particular types of school for particular categories of pupil. We will increase awareness of the role of socio-economic inequalities in producing educational inequalities, and the aspects of schooling which may exacerbate or protect against increasingly unequal cognitive, educational, social and occupational outcomes during schooling and beyond.

3. Project staff and the project student will develop both professional and research skills, including high-level quantitative skills, and skills in communicating quantitative analyses to general audiences. These skills are in shortage both in UK academia and in the wider economy.