Gender gaps in higher education participation: An analysis of the relationship between prior attainment and young participation by gender, socio-economic class and ethnicity

Broecke, Stijn and Hamed, Joseph (2008): Gender gaps in higher education participation: An analysis of the relationship between prior attainment and young participation by gender, socio-economic class and ethnicity.

Abstract

In this paper, we use two new datasets to explore the extent to which the gender gap in higher education participation amongst young people in England is related to prior attainment. We find no conclusive evidence of a gender difference in the likelihood of participating in higher education once prior attainment is controlled for. We do find, however, that young people from ethnic minority backgrounds are overwhelmingly more likely to enter higher education compared to White people with the same prior attainment. In the case of young people who were eligible for free school meals, we find that prior attainment explains the vast majority of the gap in participation compared to non-FSM pupils, however we still find a small, negative (and statistically significant) effect, which we could not eliminate entirely in any of our models.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: higher education participation; gender; ethnicity; socio-economic class
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education and Research Institutions > I20 - General; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education and Research Institutions > I21 - Analysis of Education

References

Chevalier A. (2006): “Education, Occupation and Career Expectations: Determinants of the Gender Pay Gap for UK Graduates”, Centre for the Economics of Education Working Paper No. CEEDP0069.

Connolly, P. (2006): “Keeping a sense of proportion but losing all perspective: A critique of Gorard’s notion of the ‘politician’s error”, British Journal of Educational Studies”, 54 (1), 73-88.

Connor, H., C. Tyers, T. Modood and J. Hillage (2004): “Why the Difference? A Closer Look at Higher Education Minority Ethnic Students and Graduates”, DfES Research Report No 552.

Delamont, S. (2006): “Gender and Higher Education” in C. Skelton, B. Francis and L. Smulyan (eds.): “Gender and Education”, Sage Publications, London.

DfES (2006): “Participation in Education, Training and Employment by 16-18 Year Olds in England: 2004 and 2005”, SFR 21/2006.

DfES (2007): “Participation Rates in Higher Education: Academic Years 1999/2000 - 2005/2006 (Provisional)”, SFR 10/2007.

DfES (2007): “Gender and Education: the evidence on pupils in England”.

Dyhouse, C. (2006): “Students: A Gendered History”, Routledge, Abingdon.

Gorard, S. (1999): “Keeping a sense of proportion: the ‘politician’s error’ in analysing school outcomes”, British Journal of Educational Studies”, 47 (3), 235–246.

HEFCW (2007): “Participation Rates for Welsh Students in Higher Education within the UK during 2004/05”, W07/08HE.

Kelly, K. and S. Cook (2007): “Full-time Young Participation by Socio-Economic Class: A New Widening Participation Measure in Higher Education”, DfES Research Report RR806.

OECD (2007): “Education at a Glance”.

Scottish Executive (2007): “The Age Participation Index for Scotland 2005-06”, Statistics Publication Notice, Lifelong Learning Series.

UCAS (2007): “Missed Opportunities - Non-Placed Applicants (NPAs) in the UCAS Data”.