Linda Croxford

Gender and attitudes to work and family roles: the views of young people at the millennium

The last century, in particular the latter half, saw radical shifts in the roles and expectations of women in society. This article investigates the views of 14‐ to 16‐year‐olds in the year 2000 on work and family roles, exploring both their general views on gender roles and their own personal aspirations for the future. In general the young people believed that it was equally important for males and females to get good qualifications at school, to have worthwhile careers and that childcare should be a joint responsibility. They also believed that males and females could do any job they wanted to these days. Their views were tempered, however, by the inequalities that they saw around them in the workplace and in their own families. While young people’s attitudes may have changed, they are still choosing fairly gender‐typical subjects at school and aspiring to different types of occupation. The article concludes that while great strides have been made in changing attitudes towards gender equality, there is still a long way to go before equal opportunities are really achieved.

Equal opportunities in the secondary-school curriculum in Scotland, 1977-91

This article analyses differences in participation in the formal curriculum by social class, gender and measured ability. It uses data on trends from a national survey to examine questions of (in)equality, including the relations between different dimensions of inequality. It shows the effects of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the introduction of a common core curriculum after 1983. It shows differences between comprehensive and independent schools in levels of participation in each mode of the formal curriculum.

How stable is the stratification of higher education in England and Scotland

This paper asks whether the institutional hierarchies defined by ‘golden triangle’, other Russell Group, other pre-1992 and post-1992 universities in England, and by ancient, old and new universities in Scotland, have become weaker since the 1990s. Using indicators constructed from Universities and Colleges Admissions Service data for 1996–2010, the article finds a stable hierarchical relationship among the sectors within each country, with some indicators showing a slight widening of status differences between sectors towards the end of the period. The main exception was a slight ‘upgrading’ of new (post-1992) universities in Scotland early in the period. There was little change in the association of institutional sector with social class, but in England the association with private secondary schools became slightly stronger and the association with ethnicity weakened.

Trends in social class segregation between schools in England, Wales and Scotland since 1984

The article describes trends in social class segregation between British secondary schools from 1984 to 1999, and includes ‘home international’ comparisons of trends in England, Wales and Scotland. The analysis is based on comparable youth cohort datasets: the England and Wales Youth Cohort Study and the Scottish School Leavers’ Survey. The measures of social class are derived from parents’ occupational status and education, and thus provide different dimensions of segregation from those used in some earlier studies which focused on average free school meal entitlement. Segregation indices derived using standard methods include a measure of (un)evenness (S) and a measure of isolation (I). In addition, the variance ratio is derived using a multilevel statistical model, with the advantage that confidence intervals can be estimated. Differences in segregation between the three countries are small, but the indices provide evidence that segregation is consistently lower in Scotland than in England, and this is compatible with the view that the more comprehensive system in Scotland is associated with lower segregation. However, the picture for Wales is rather varied, and hampered by small sample size and changing sampling methods. In the 1990s, the trajectory of segregation in Scotland was different from that in England or Wales: it may have fallen slightly in Scotland but risen elsewhere. But gaps in the available data prevent us being sure about that. The segregation indices do not reveal clear upward or downward trends in the period since parental choice legislation was introduced.

Social class, ethnicity and access to higher education in the four countries of the UK: 1996–2010

This paper compares access to full-time undergraduate higher education (HE) by members of less advantaged social classes and ethnic minorities across the four ‘home countries’ of the UK. It uses data on applicants to HE in selected years from 1996 to 2010. In all home countries students from intermediate and working-class backgrounds retained a broadly level share of a rising total participation in HE, while ethnic minorities increased their share. Intermediate- and working-class students were more likely to study within their own home country, as were ethnic-minority students in England, but minority students from Northern Ireland and Scotland were much more likely than white students to study elsewhere (usually England). Some aspects of the admissions process appear to have been ‘unfair’ to lower class applicants; this was the same across the UK although the relative success of applications from colleges and independent schools, which might accentuate or mitigate inequalities, varied across the home countries. In England and Wales, ethnic-minority applicants were less likely to be offered a place but they compensated (only partially in the case of older universities) by gaining entry through clearing; in Scotland they were as likely to be offered a place but less likely to enter HE. The paper discusses the potential of such comparisons for benchmarking and for policy learning. It concludes that the similarities between the home countries are more substantial than their differences, and that administrative and political devolution in the 1990s has had little impact on inequalities in HE. There is no evidence of a significant impact of the divergence between market policies in England and the more social-democratic policies of the devolved administrations.

Differentiation and social segregation of UK higher education, 1996–2010

Policies to expand higher education (HE) in the UK have emphasised the importance of widening participation by under-represented groups. However, the attention has shifted from who participates in HE (and who does not) to the different institutions attended by students from different backgrounds. Researchers have typically investigated this issue by comparing rates of entry to different types of university. This paper proposes an alternative approach; it uses concepts of social segregation, hitherto applied mainly to secondary schools, to analyse UCAS data on the social and demographic characteristics of entrants to HE. It estimates indices of segregation between HE institutions, and between subject areas within institutions, for selected cohorts of entrants to full-time undergraduate courses between 1996 and 2010. Levels of segregation during this period have been relatively high in relation to ethnicity and independent schooling, lower in relation to age and lowest in relation to gender, disability and social class. Most indices show stability over time, with a decline in the segregation of non-white ethnic groups and a small increase in segregation of independent school students. Levels of segregation differ across the four UK home countries, and tend to be highest in England.

The Third Face of Modules: Gendered Patterns of Participation and Progression in Scottish Vocational Education

Abstract The sociological literature on modularisation is currently underdeveloped. Much of the analytical writing that exists tends to emphasise one of two ‘faces’ of modules. Some writers see modules as an instrument of educational Taylorism, and claim that the detailed specification of modular curricula changes patterns of control, reduces professional autonomy and fragments the learning experience. Others see modules as a source of post‐modem flexibility, a means of individualising differentiation, integrating academic and vocational study and removing the barriers and disincentives to participation and progression associated with traditional course structures. In this paper we propose a third ‘face’ of modules: as a change agent whose effects are variable, conditional and typically small. We describe gender differences in young peoples participation and progression in the National Certificate, the system‐wide modular framework introduced in Scotland in 1984. These gender differences are similar to t...

Quality assurance and evaluation (QAE) in Scotland: promoting self‐evaluation within and beyond the country

This article looks at policy for quality assurance and evaluation in Scotland, its history and more recent developments, and in particular, at the emphasis on school self‐evaluation. It examines the history of the concept, its constituent elements and the role of the Inspectorate in establishing it. Further, the article discusses the Scottish self‐evaluation model as a means of promoting the country’s distinctive identity in education within a European frame. It discusses the role of the Standing International Conference of Inspectorates as a major forum for the transmission of ideas about self‐evaluation that illuminates the role of networks in promoting Europeanisation.

Is free-meal entitlement a valid measure of school intake characteristics?

Free-meal entitlement (FME) is being used as a measure of the socio-economic characteristics of Scottish schools for the purposes of target-setting. This article examines the association between FME and the socio-economic circumstances of schools using a national survey of school-leavers. It also evaluates the extent to which FME provides a surrogate for socio-economic status in predicting attainment. It finds that FME is an inconsistent measure of poverty, and is only a partial proxy for socio-economic circumstances. It concludes that school comparisons using FME may give a spurious impression of validity.

Participation in full-time education beyond 16: a ‘home international’ comparison

Recent policy makers have sought to increase participation in full-time education beyond 16 and to broaden access among under-represented groups. Commentators on both sides of the border have drawn policy lessons from comparisons of the different UK systems, especially Scotland and England. This paper reviews the evidence on the level and distribution of participation in the four systems of the UK, using official statistics and survey data from the early 1990s. Participation has generally been highest in Northern Ireland and Scotland and lowest in England, but comparisons on a consistent age basis are less favourable to Scotland than those shown in official statistics. The average duration of participation is longest in Northern Ireland, whereas high Scottish participation at 16 is matched by a larger outflow at 17. Participation has risen throughout the UK since the 1980s but it has grown most steadily in Scotland, especially since the early 1990s. More females than males stay on beyond 16: the gender difference is largest in Northern Ireland and smallest in England. Throughout the UK higher attainers and youngsters from socially advantaged backgrounds are most likely to stay on, but these inequalities in participation are greatest in Scotland. School effects on participation are strongest in England and especially in Northern Ireland, where in addition to a selective-school effect there is most variability among schools of the same type. Participation varies locally but differences across the home countries cannot merely be attributed either to the social and educational composition of the age group or to the aggregate effects of local influences. The paper concludes that the benefits attributed to the flexibility of Scottish courses and qualifications need more critical scrutiny. There may be policy lessons from the apparently high participation rates in Northern Ireland, although better data are needed if such lessons are to be drawn with confidence.