Social Class Differences in Educational Achievement : The Data

Learning objectives for this document

Reading statistical tables and charts

Recognition of relationships between social class positions and educational achievement.

Introduction

Sociological studies in advanced industrial countries including the UK have shown that educational achievements (as measured mainly by educational qualifications achieved) are closely related to social class background and that upper and middle class students on average out perform working class students at all levels of the education system. For example, sociologists from the 1950s onwards have regularly pointed to the progressive under-representation of working class students in:

higher streams in primary (i.e. middle schools)
numbers passing the 11+ examination
numbers in higher streams in grammar schools and subsequently in comprehensives
numbers remaining in school after the minimum school leaving age
numbers passing O levels, gaining high grade GCSE passes and passing A levels
numbers enrolled on undergraduate courses
numbers involved in post graduate study.

Despite a wide range of government educational policy initiatives such as the introduction of free secondary schooling for state educated students and apparently fair, objective methods of selection (the 11+ examination) for the different types of school (Grammar, Technical, Secondary Modern) in the new Tripartite system in the 1944 Education Act, the expansion of state expenditure on education, the subsequent recognition of the limitations of the Tripartite Secondary System and its replacement almost everywhere by Comprehensive Secondary Education, the raising of the school leaving age to 15 and subsequently 16, the development of Education Priority Areas , the schools initiatives too numerous to mention of the Thatcher, Major, Blair and Brown administrations and the expansion of opportunities for further and higher education, it can still easily be demonstrated that working class students are less likely to be educationally successful than are their middle class peers counterparts.

Sources of Data

I shall use three sources of relevant data on relationships between social class and educational achievement and one source on relationships between educational qualifications and earnings of men and women respectively. .

Source 1:Youth Cohort Studies of the educational achievements of 16 year olds 1989-2006 published on the Department for Education and Skills DfES [now DCFS] website.

[The 1989-1999 data refer to GCSE Examination results in for England and Wales whereas the 2001-2006 data refer to England only]

Click here for the YCS Report on 16 year olds published in 2007

Parental Occupation [SEG]	1989	1991	1992	1994	1996	1998	1999	2001	2003	2006
Professional/Managerial	52	58	60	66	68	63
Other Non-manual	42	49	51	58	58	60
Skilled Manual	21	27	29	36	36	40
Semi-Skilled Manual	16	20	23	26	29	32
Unskilled Manual	12	15	16	16	24	20
Other /Not Classified	15	18	18	20	22	24

Parental Occupation [NS-SEC]
Higher Professional							75	77	76	81
Lower Professional							62	64	65	73
Intermediate							49	51	53	59
Lower Supervisory							34	34	41	46
Routine							26	31	33	42
Other/Not Classified							24	26	33	34

An individual's social class position is often approximated by his/her occupation but the occupational classification schema used by the UK Government were altered in 2000 so that the statistics for 1989-1998 are not comparable with the statistics for 1999- 2006 .Nevertheless the data do show that children whose parents are in professional and managerial occupations are more likely than children whose parents are in manual occupations to gain 5 or more GCSE A*-C grade passes.

Click here for a diagrammatic presentation of these data for years 1999-2006. [Once you have reached the diagram [chart two] you may also click Sheet 1 or scroll over the diagram itself if you wish to revisit the actual statistics!]

Activity

W hat percentages of pupils of Professional/Managerial and Unskilled Manual parents respectively gained 5 or more A*-C GCSE Pass Grades in 1989 and 1998?

The results of both of these pupil categories improved between 1989 and 1998 but what happened to the difference in results between these two pupil categories?

What percentages of pupils of Higher Professional, Intermediate and Routine Occupation respectively gained 5 or A*-C GCSE Pass Grades in 2004?

How would you describe the relationships between parental social class and educational achievement in general terms?

Suggest three possible reasons for these relationships.

Source 2: Data on the impact of free school meal eligibility on pupil performance at GCSE level which can be found on the DfES [now DCFS] website.

% of Male and Female Pupils achieving 5 or more A*-C GCSE Grades 2003-2006 by Free School Meal [FSM] Eligibility and Non-Eligibility for Free School Meals [NFSM]

	NFSM[03]	FSM[03]	NFSM [04]	FSM[04]	NFSM [05]	FSM [05]	NFSM [06]	FSM[06]
Males	49.9	20.4	50.8	22.1	53.8	25.5	55.8	28.3
Females	60.8	28.5	61.4	30.2	64.2	34.4	65.7	37.0
All Pupils	55.2	24.4	56.1	26.1	58.9	29.9	60.7	32.6

Click here for a diagrammatic presentation of these data. [Once you have reached the diagram click Sheet 1 or scroll over the diagram itself if you wish to revisit the actual statistics!]

Click here for more recent data from the Department of Industry , Universities and Skills [DIUS] on social class differences in participation in higher educationt

Activity: Describing the above data

1. What proportion of male pupils ineligible for free school meals in 2006 gained 5 or more A-C* GCSE grades?

2. What proportion of male pupils eligible for free school meals in 2006 gained 5 or more A* -C GCSE grades?

3. What proportions of female pupils ineligible and eligible for free school meals gained 5 or more A*-C GCSE grades in 2006?

4. Suggest three reasons which might help to explain the answers you have given to questions 1, 2 and 3.

Source Three: Focus on Social Inequality [Edited by P.Babb, J. Matin and P.Haezewindt ONS 2004] provides data on relationships between social class [measured by parental occupation] and participation in Higher Education .

Percentages of 18-21 Year Olds Participating in Higher Education and Type of Parental Occupation.

	1960	1970	1980	1990	1995	2001	2007/8: All students [NS SEC data]	2007/8:Female students [NS SECdata]	2007/8: Male students NS SEC data]
Non-Manual %	27	32	33	37	47	50	41.2	43.6	37.2
Manual %	4	5	7	10	17	19	21.0	24.5	17.8
Total %	5	8	12	19	32	35

The above data indicate that, for example, in 1960 27% of the children of parents in non-manual occupations participated in Higher Education compared with 4% of the children of parents in manual occupations. Also in 1960 only 5% of all 18-21 year olds participated in Higher Education.

The final columns of the table are s taken from a 2009 Department of Business, Innovation and Skills Paper distinguishing between Higher Education Participation Rates of male and female students from NS SEC Classes1, 2 and 3 and NS SEC Classes 4,5,6 and7. Clearly the 2007/8 data are based upon different social class schema and are therefore not fully comparable with the previous data.

Click here for the DBIS data.

Click here for a diagrammatic presentation of these data. [However I have not included the update statistics here]

Activity

What has happened to total participation in Higher Education since 1960?
Briefly describe the differences in access to Higher Education between the children of non-manual occupation parents and of manual occupation parents.
Give three brief reasons why children of manual occupation parents are less likely than the children of non–manual occupation parents to participate in Higher Education.

Source 4: Social Trends 2006 data indicate that individuals ’ educational qualifications have a major impact on their earnings potential .


Average gross weekly earnings: by sex, highest qualification attained and age, 2005¹
United Kingdom						£ per week
	16–24	25–34	35–44	45–54	55–59/64	All working age
Men
Degree or equivalent	356	619	810	862	732	726
Higher education below degree level	366	501	588	619	583	554
GCE A level or equivalent	290	446	545	536	436	470
GCSE grades A* to C or equivalent	253	410	469	463	503	410
Other (including GCSE below grade C)	253	389	453	435	417	407
No qualifications	250	325	359	366	335	342

All men²	283	483	574	575	487	506

Women
Degree or equivalent	319	528	627	679	651	561
Higher education below degree level	267	384	464	491	488	440
GCE A level or equivalent	250	353	421	364	390	347
GCSE grades A* to C or equivalent	227	330	331	329	309	308
Other (including GCSE below grade C)	187	378	299	315	302	313
No qualifications	182	300	235	262	259	251

All women²	253	425	433	424	381	397

All working age²	270	459	524	515	457	464
1 At spring. Data are not seasonally adjusted and have been adjusted in line with population estimates published in spring 2003. See Appendix, Part 4: LFS reweighting. Males aged 16 to 64, females aged 16 to 59.
2 Includes people who did not state their highest qualification.
*Source: Labour Force Survey, Office for National Statistics*

Activity

What were the average weekly earnings of women aged 16-24 with Degree or equivalent qualifications and with no qualifications in 2005

What were the average weekly earnings of men aged 16-24 with Degree or equivalent qualifications and with no qualifications in 2005?

Describe the main relationships between educational qualifications and earnings for women and men.

How might differences in earnings of parents affect the educational progress of their children?

Conclusion

The data used in this document suggest that there are very significant social class differences in educational achievement and also that higher educational achievements are associated with higher earnings.

The Youth Cohort Study data indicate strong relationships between parental social class and educational achievement at GCSE level. [Source One}

Pupils eligible for free school meals are on average less successful at GCSE level than pupils not eligible for free school meals. [Source Two]

There are strong relationships between social class membership and participation in Higher Education . {Source Three]

There are strong relationships between educational qualifications and earnings for both men and women [Source Four].

Taken in combination these findings mean that many working class children are themselves unlikely to earn high incomes in adult life because of their limited educational qualifications. Class advantage is to some extent transmitted from generation to generation although many working class children are successful in education and socially mobile in their employment careers..

In the following documents [to be posted later] we shall investigate in more detail the relationships between social class membership and educational achievement before turning to relationships between gender and educational achievement and "race" , ethnicity and educational achievement.