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Investigating Inequalities in Educational Attainment [complete]
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 ResearchersAbstract:The twentieth century saw significant educational expansion and reform in all western societies. The development of educational systems can be seen as a response to the demands of changing economic and occupational structures, and as an attempt to create a greater equality of educational opportunity. Within this context, sociological interest has focussed on the determinants of educational attainment, and particularly on the influence of social background. Social class, ethnic origin and sex have all been found to affect educational attainment. As regards social class, it is clear that children of professional and managerial – or ‘salariat’ – background generally achieve higher levels of educational performance and make more ambitious educational choices than do children from working class backgrounds. For example, data for Britain from 2001 suggest that children of salariat background are around five times more likely to take A-level courses, rather than taking vocational courses or leaving education than are children of working class background. In my research, I argue that in trying to understand class inequalities in educational attainment, it is important to take into account the distinction made by Boudon, between ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ effects. ‘Primary’ effects describe differences in educational performance between children of different social classes, maybe due to class-specific cultural or genetic factors. ‘Secondary’ effects, in contrast, describe the different choices made by children from different class backgrounds. The implication of this distinction then is that, even if previous educational performance is held constant, the possibility remains that children of more advantaged background will more often opt to stay on in full-time education, or to take more ambitious educational courses than will children of less advantaged background. In other words, factors apart from those affecting actual educational performance can come into play. In previous work undertaken with Robert Erikson, John Goldthorpe, Meir Yaish and David Cox, a method for distinguishing the relative importance of primary and secondary effects in creating class differentials in educational attainment has been developed. Using this method, it is possible to say that secondary effects account for at least one-quarter of the odds ratios that define class differentials in the transition to A-level work for the 2001 sample discussed above. Having developed this method, the research is now being extended to examine class, sex and ethnic inequalities in educational attainment across Europe in longitudinal perspective. The research will be comparative, with collaborators from other European countries. I will be responsible for studying the British case, collecting all the available data in order to create a consistent time series. I will then analyse this data, to first describe the extent of class, sex and ethnic inequalities in educational attainment, and then to ascertain the relative importance of primary and secondary effects in creating these inequalities. Department:Nuffield College and Department of Sociology, University of Oxford Duration:October 2006-September 2008- Grant Type:Research Fellowship PublicationsView research findings [PDF] Jackson, M. (In draft) The relative importance of primary and secondary effects in creating ethnic inequalities in educational attainment. Jackson, M. (2010) Investigating inequalities in educational attainment, In Stillwell, J., Norman, P., Thomas, C. and Surridge, (P. (eds.) Spatial and Social Disparities Understanding Population Trends and Processes, Volume 2, Springer, Dordrecht. Goldthorpe, J.H. and Jackson, M. (2008) ‘Problems of an education-based meritocracy, in Lareau, A. and Conley, D. (eds.) Social Class. How does it work? Russell Sage Foundation Press. Jackson, M., Erikson, R., Goldthorpe, J.H. and Yaish, M. (2007) Primary and secondary effects in class differentials in educational attainment: the transition to A-level courses in England and Wales, Acta Sociologica, 50(3): 211-229. Other papers on social stratification and mobility are recorded in
ESRC’s Society Today. PresentationsJackson, M. (2009) Lecturer at Bamberg Summer School July. Jackson, M. (2009) Seminar presentation, Sociology Seminar Series, Nuffield College, Oxford, March. Jackson, M. (2008) Conference presentation, RC28 Conference, Stanford University, August. Jackson, M. (2008) Seminar presentation, Sociology Seminar Series, Otto Friedrich University, Bamberg, June. Jackson, M. (2007) Seminar presentation, Political Science Seminar Series, Nuffield College, Oxford, Dec. Jackson, M. (2007) Seminar presentation, Equalsoc Conference, Dijon, Nov. Jackson, M. (2007) Conference presentation, UPTAP Conference, Leeds University, Apr. Jackson, M. (2007) Invited speaker, Social Mobility in Action Conference, Social Mobility Foundation, London, Feb. Jackson, M. (2006) Conference presentation: NCDS User Group meeting,
Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, London, December.
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