General Certificate of Education (GCSE)

1. An analysis of detailed parental occupational differences and their effects on children’s school attainment in Britain Professor Vernon Gayle and Dr Paul Lambert , University of Stirling April 2011 RC28 2011 Conference, University of Essex www.dames.org.uk

2. General Certificate of Education (GCSE) • General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) introduced in the late 1980s • The standard qualification for pupils in England and Wales in year 11 (aged 15/16) • Usually a mixture of assessed coursework and examinations • Generally each subject is assessed separately and a subject specific GCSE awarded • It is usual for pupils to study for about nine subjects, which will include core subjects (e.g. English, Maths and Science) and non-core subjects • GCSEs are graded in discrete ordered categories • GCSEs are public examinations and mark the first major branching point in a young person’s educational career • Poor GCSE attainment is a considerable obstacle which precludes young people from pursuing more advanced educational courses • Young people with low levels of GCSE attainment are usually more likely to leave education at the minimum school leaving age and their qualification level frequently disadvantages them in the labour market • Low levels of qualifications are also likely to have a longer term impact on experiences in the adult labour market • Therefore, we argue that gaps in GCSE attainment are sociologically important

3. Youth Cohort Study of England & Wales (YCS) • Major Longitudinal Study began Mid-1980s • Designed to monitor behaviour of young people as they reach the minimum school leaving age and either stay on in education of enter the labour market • Experiences of Education (qualifications); Employment; Training; Aspirations; Family; Personal characteristic & circumstances • Nationally representative; Large sample size; Panel data (albeit short); Possible to compare cohorts (trends over time) • Study contacts a sample from an academic year group (cohort) in the spring following completion of compulsory education • The sample is designed to be representative of all Year 11 pupils in England & Wales • Sample are tracked for 3 (sometimes 4) waves (called Sweeps) of data collection

4. Working with the YCS • Documentation is very poor especially in the older cohorts – usually handwritten annotation on questionnaires (pdf) (Compare this with the BHPS for example) • Changes in qualifications, educational policy etc adds data complications • Changes is questions, measures, coding, timing etc, all add to the general confusion • Recently available harmonized dataset SN 5765 Title: Youth Cohort Time Series for England, Wales and Scotland, 1984-2002 Depositor(s): Croxford, L., University of Edinburgh. Centre for Educational Sociology Principal Investigator(s): Croxford, L., University of Edinburgh. Centre for Educational SociologyIannelli, C., University of Edinburgh. Centre for Educational SociologyShapira, M., University of Edinburgh. Centre for Educational Sociology Economic and Social Research Council Grant Number: R000239852

5. What is the relationship between parental occupations and filial educational attainment? • Relatively strong (and persistent) association between a pupil’s GCSE attainment and the occupational position of their parents (net of cohort, gender and ethnicity) • Similar association with any GCSE measure • Similar association with any of the occupational based measures • e.g. NS-SEC, ESeC, RGSC, EGP, but also NS-SEC3, M/NM, Skill, and CAMSIS, NES • The level of association is stronger than gender and ethnicity • The parental occupational gap is more striking • Changing over time? Additional comprehensive analyses required • Ongoing concern about the gender gap • In educational circles and in public discourse (media fuelled)

6. There might be extra insights somewhere between ‘big class categories’ and ‘individual occupations’? • Work emerging in sociology… • Jonsson et al 2009 AJS; Grusky & Weeden (2005, 2006) • Between 9 categories and 371 unorganised occupational unit groups, there may be 80-120 microclasses defined by their professional cultures and practices? • ‘Microclass regime.—The microclass approach shares with the big-class model the presumption that contemporary labor markets are balkanized into discrete categories, but such balkanization is assumed to take principally the form of institutionalized occupations (e.g., doctor, plumber, postal clerk) rather than institutionalized big classes (e.g., routine nonmanuals, proprietors)’ (Jonsson et al 2009 pp.982-983)

11. Conclusions • Strong and persistent association between parental occupations and filial GCSE attainment • Irrespective of how GCSEs are measured • Irrespective of how occupations are measured

12. Conclusions “Nevertheless a large proportion of the social origins influence is adequately measured by quite simplified occupation-based schemes. This suggests that much, but not all, of the social origins influence of occupations is a direct function of average position within the stratification structure. However, contrary to claims that different stratification measures measure different things (cf. Rose and Harrison, 2010), the divergences between schemes are minimal and have little correspondence to the theoretical foundations of different measures (cf. Lambert and Bihagen, 2007)” Gayle and Lambert 2011

13. Conclusions • Strong and persistent association between parental occupations and filial GCSE attainment • Empirically stronger when specific occupations are recognised (difference between secondary school teachers and publicans)

14. Conclusions “The results presented clearly favour the arguments developed by Jonsson et al. (2009) and Grusky and Weeden (2006; 2005; 2002). Amongst the range of measures used, fine-grained occupation-based schemes such as the original SOC units or the microclass scheme bring a substantial, parsimonious improvement to the empirical description of parental influences upon educational attainment, and the differences from occupation to occupation seem predictable and consistent with an emphasis on the impact of particular occupational cultures” Gayle and Lambert 2011

15. Conclusions • In the UK many educational initiatives have attempted to target the underachievement of specific groups • In our view plagued by poor measures (e.g. free school meals, neighbourhood) • Some based on ‘big class’ analyses • Big classes are heterogeneous and this might obviate the intended beneficiaries of these initiatives