ERIC Number: EJ1170832
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 24
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0305-4985
EISSN: N/A
Does What You Study at Age 14-16 Matter for Educational Transitions Post-16?
Oxford Review of Education, v44 n1 p94-117 2018
This paper considers whether subject choice at 14-16 influences post-16 transitions, taking into account prior academic attainment and school characteristics, and if so, whether this accounts for socioeconomic, gender, and ethnic differences in access to post-16 education. We consider post-16 progression to full-time education, A-levels, and studying two or more facilitating subjects at A-level. We use "Next Steps", a study of 16,000 people born in England in 1989-1990, linked to administrative education records (the National Pupil Database). We find that students pursuing an EBacc-eligible curriculum at 14-16 had a greater probability of progression to all post-16 educational outcomes, while the reverse was true for students taking an applied GCSE subject. Curriculum differences did not explain the social class differences in post-16 progression, but an academic curriculum was equally valuable for working-class as for middle-class pupils. Pursuing an EBacc-eligible curriculum particularly strongly increased the chances of girls and white young people staying in the educational pipeline, whereas applied subjects were particularly detrimental for girls. An EBacc-eligible curriculum at age 14-16 increased the chances of studying subjects preferred by Russell Group universities at A-level.
Descriptors: Course Selection (Students), Prior Learning, Educational Attainment, Institutional Characteristics, Socioeconomic Background, Gender Differences, Ethnicity, Student Records, Outcomes of Education, Secondary School Students, Social Class, Longitudinal Studies, Performance Factors, Probability, College Bound Students, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (England)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A