Post 16 choices by background

The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission (www.gov.uk/smcpc) is inviting proposals for a data analysis exercise which explores how post 16 choices relate to prior attainment, socio-economic status, gender and ethnicity. The purpose of this work is to fill what we consider to be an important evidence gap on how choices made about where and what to study post 16 affects students’ ability to fulfil their potential – in particular in higher education.

The Commission’s social mobility remit spans the early years, schools, post 16, university and the professions/adulthood and we are regularly confronted with evidence that low prior attainment and sub-optimal educational choices are key reasons why children from poor families are under-represented in top universities and professions. We would like the provider to look at how pupils with similar attainment at age 16, make different choices post GCSE, how those choices appear to be related to family background, ethnicity and gender, and what the impact of those choices are.

The provider should explore choices made and the extent to which young people from particular backgrounds may be more likely to make particular choices, when controlling for prior attainment. The post 16 choices that are of particular interest are: institution type, course type (A level, Btec etc) and subject.

The provider should then look at the potential impact of those choices on results of level 3 qualification achieved and if they attend, on Higher Education destination: course studied (if any), type and quality of institution, distance from home. Course and institution choices at age 16 are clearly restricted by options available to each individual, and the provider should consider the extent to which they can address that in the analysis. The Commission expects that the provider should make use of the opportunity to link government datasets to deliver this project.