Post-16 Educational Trajectories and Social Inequalities in Political Engagement

This project, funded, by Nuffield Foundation, explores the difference in political engagement between young people of disadvantaged and more privileged backgrounds. It examines how this social gap in engagement changes over the life course and whether post-16 educational pathways reinforce this gap. These pathways refer to the different tracks in 16-to-19 education (such as A levels and various vocational courses) and enrolment in higher education or not. The project also explores whether these pathways have an enduring influence on young people’s political engagement and keep disadvantaged youth locked in a cycle of apathy and alienation. The focus is on post-16 pathways because the education system branches out at age 16 and because late adolescence has been identified as a crucial period for the formation of a disposition to participate.