The educational and labour market expectations of adolescents and young adults
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Quantitative Social Science
Abstract
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People |
ORCID iD |
| John Jerrim (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Jerrim J
(2012)
The Socio-Economic Gradient in Teenagers' Reading Skills: How Does England Compare with Other Countries?*
in Fiscal Studies
Jerrim J
(2011)
Do UK Higher Education Students Overestimate Their Starting Salary?*
in Fiscal Studies
John Jerrim (Author)
(2012)
University access for socio-economically disadvantaged children : a comparison across anglophone countries
| Title | The socio-economic gradient in teenagers' reading skills |
| Description | Interview on Institute for Fiscal Studies website |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2012 |
| Description | This award was a (now obsolete) ESRC postdoctoral fellowship. It lasted for one year, and was intended to allow time for my PhD thesis to be converted into academic publications. From this grant, I published three papers from my PhD. In the first paper, I found that university students in the UK tend to have unrealistic wage expectations; they overestimate their starting salary by (on average) 10 percent. However, students in specific subject areas (e.g. English, History) seems to be particularly unrealistic, overestimating their starting salary by (on average) around 20%. In the second paper, I extend this analysis to the United States. In particular, I investigate how well 20 year olds in the US estimate their wages at age 30. I find that both students and young people who are working at age 20 overestimate their future wages. Indeed, the difference between expected and actual future wages is substantial, standing at around 50 percent. The study concludes that more needs to be done in order to help young people understand their likely future earnings if they are to make well-informed educational decisions. The final paper investigates 15 year olds educational expectations across 32 countries. In particular, it uses PISA data to investigate the proportion of children who expect to obtain a university degree, and compares this to the proportion of the population who actually do. The study focuses upon the United States, and placing this country into an international comparative context. I find that 15 year olds in the United States vastly overestimate their chances of obtaining a university-level qualification, and that they are more unrealistic about their prospects than young people in other developed countries. |
| Exploitation Route | My findings on wage expectations of students could be taken forward in a number of ways. First, more research should be done on the wages young people expect to earn under different possible scenarios (e.g. going to university versus not going to university). Young people' expectations of the returns to university could then be compared to what we know about actual financial returns. Second, there should be further methodological innovations in collecting such data, particularly in UK based surveys. In particular, more detailed questions on wage expectations are needed, capturing the amount of uncertainty young people have in their expectations. In terms of cross-national comparisons of educational expectations, a limitation of my student is that it relied upon cross-sectional data. A significant way this area of research could be taken forward is to conduct a cross-national longitudinal study of the link between educational expectations and attainment. For instance, this would allow one to investigate the stability of young people's educational expectations, and if this differs across countries. Likewise, it would allow one to investigate whether expectations are a better predictor of attainment in some countries than others, and if this is linked to institutional features (e.g. school systems or labour market rigidity). |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education |
| Description | Socio-economic differences in children's reading skills |
| Amount | £10,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | The Sutton Trust |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 03/2011 |
| End | 06/2012 |
| Description | University access for socio-economically disadvantaged children : a comparison across Anglo-phone countries |
| Amount | £8,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | The British Academy |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2012 |
| End | 10/2013 |
| Description | Access to higher education across countries |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Primary Audience | |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at Michigan State University |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Children from disadvantaged backgrounds |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Interview with Victoria Derbyshire, 29/06/2012 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Higher education access across anglophone countries |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation to the Sutton Trust Section not completed |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Higher education access in the UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Primary Audience | |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at Seminar at the Institute of Education, University of London |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | |
| Description | Measuring socio-economic inequality using PISA data |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Primary Audience | |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at GINI workshop WP4 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | |
| Description | Socio-economic differences in higher education : how do we reduce the gaps? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Primary Audience | |
| Results and Impact | Presentation to the Access to Higher Education Summit |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | |
| Description | Socioeconomic gradients in children's cognitive skills : are cross-country comparisons robust to who reports family background? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Primary Audience | |
| Results and Impact | Workshop presentation at London School of Economics |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | |
| Description | The socio-economic gradient in teenagers' literacy skills : how does England compare to other countries? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Primary Audience | |
| Results and Impact | Presented at seminar on 'Adolescence in the 21st century - Current debates in Finland and the UK' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | |
| Description | The socio-economic gradient in teenagers' reading skills : how does England compare to other countries? |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Primary Audience | |
| Results and Impact | This presentation was given at the launch of a special issue of Fiscal Studies on 29 June 2012. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | |
| Description | The unrealistic educational expectations of high school pupils : is America exceptional |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Primary Audience | |
| Results and Impact | Seminar presentation |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | |
| Description | The wage expectations of higher education students |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Primary Audience | |
| Results and Impact | Article in Pathways: The Pathways to Adulthood Newsletter, Issue 4 September 2012 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| URL | http://www.pathwaystoadulthood.org/docs/PATHWAYSNewsletterIssue4.pdf |
| Description | University access for socio-economically disadvantaged children : a comparison across anglo-phone countries |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Primary Audience | |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at International workshop on applied economics of education |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | |