The effect of schools on school leavers' university participation

TY - JOUR

T1 - The effect of schools on school leavers' university participation

AU - Taylor, Chris

AU - Wright, Caroline

AU - Davies, Rhys

AU - Rees, Gareth

AU - Evans, Ceryn

AU - Drinkwater, Stephen

N1 - (Open Access) version of the journal's online article uploaded

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - This paper considers the role that schools have in determining whether school leavers participate in higher education or not. It examines the association between schools and university participation using a unique dataset of 3 cohorts of all young people leaving maintained schools in Wales. School “effects” are identified, even after controlling for individual-level factors, such as their prior attainment, socioeconomic circumstances, ethnicity, and special educational needs. Schools appear to have a particular “effect” on the likelihood that a young person enters an elite university. However, the findings suggest the concept of a school “effect” on higher education participation is not straightforward – schools appear to have different levels of effectiveness depending on the gender of the young people and the nature of their higher education participation. These findings are considered within the policy contexts of school effectiveness and widening access to higher education.

AB - This paper considers the role that schools have in determining whether school leavers participate in higher education or not. It examines the association between schools and university participation using a unique dataset of 3 cohorts of all young people leaving maintained schools in Wales. School “effects” are identified, even after controlling for individual-level factors, such as their prior attainment, socioeconomic circumstances, ethnicity, and special educational needs. Schools appear to have a particular “effect” on the likelihood that a young person enters an elite university. However, the findings suggest the concept of a school “effect” on higher education participation is not straightforward – schools appear to have different levels of effectiveness depending on the gender of the young people and the nature of their higher education participation. These findings are considered within the policy contexts of school effectiveness and widening access to higher education.

UR - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09243453.2018.1484776

M3 - Article

SN - 0924-3453

JO - School Effectiveness and School Improvement

JF - School Effectiveness and School Improvement

ER -