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There are international concerns about decreasing rates of chemistry degree enrolment. This article seeks to understand students' reasons for not/choosing to pursue a chemistry degree, drawing on (i) open-ended survey responses from a sample of 506 students in England aged 21-22 who had studied advanced level ("A level") chemistry at age 18 (as either a full A level or a half "AS" level) and had either chosen (n = 70) or not chosen (n = 436) to pursue undergraduate chemistry and (ii) 185 interviews conducted with a subsample of 18 young people who had been longitudinally tracked from age 10 to 22 (with 17 of their parents) who took advanced level chemistry and then either did (n = 5), or did not (n = 13) go on to study for a chemistry degree. Analysis revealed four key reasons for not/choosing chemistry that were present to varying extents in both the quantitative and qualitative data ("relative interest, connection and options"; "experiences of chemistry A level; feeling 'not/clever enough'"; and "views of chemistry jobs"). Four additional factors were predominantly found in the qualitative data ("associations of chemistry with masculinity"; "encouragement from a significant adult"; "views of higher education"; and "chemistry work experience/outreach"). Applying a sociological lens, we suggest that not/choosing chemistry was a relational process, produced through interactions of habitus, capital, and field. We identify conceptual and methodological implications and extrapolate reasons why chemistry degree enrolments may be declining, offering suggestions for how chemistry education might further support participation.

Pupils' Academic Self-Concept (ASC) has been shown to be related to educational outcomes during compulsory school years, but there is little evidence on the role ASC plays beyond this stage. Using longitudinal data from the English Next Steps survey the authors examine whether young people with higher ASC are more likely to study A levels, participate in further education and attend university. For university attenders, they examine whether higher ASC is associated with attending high status universities or studying higher status subjects. Finally, they explore the relationship between ASC and employment status and income. They find ASC is associated with differences in some of the post-educational routes but not with all. ASC is associated with an increased likelihood of studying for A levels and, for those with the highest ASC, more ASC increases the likelihood of going to university. However, there is no evidence that ASC is associated with going to an elite Russell Group university or related to differences in subjects studied at university, nor is it directly associated with later labour market outcomes once background variables and prior educational attainment are included. However, there will be an indirect relationship which should not be overlooked, as ASC influences A levels and the likelihood of going to university, both of which are associated with improved labour market outcomes. Although not causal, this work suggests that policies aimed at increasing ASC might have the ability to improve students' educational trajectories, increasing the likelihood that students will study A levels and, for some, increasing the likelihood of attending university. Both of these are pivotal educational cross-roads, so influencing routes at these points not only has the potential to improve opportunities for individuals, but also widen access to HE among groups with traditionally lower participation rates, thereby improving later outcomes, indirectly.

Scant sociological attention has been given to the role of luck within social mobility/reproduction. This paper helps address this conceptual gap, drawing on insights from over 200 longitudinal interviews conducted with 20 working-class young people and 22 of their parents over an 11-year period, from age 10-21. We explore the potential significance of luck within the trajectories of 13 educationally mobile young people who were the first in family to go to university, six young people who achieved similar educational levels to their parents and one young person whose status was less clear cut. Our analysis suggests that particular forms of luck may be instrumental in creating opportunities for social mobility, although the consequentiality of these are mediated through interplays of agency, structure, habitus and capital. We conclude that paying further attention to luck may help augment sociological understandings of structure/agency and Bourdieusian understandings of social reproduction.

Previous research has shown that there is a small but significant cumulative private school advantage in terms of educational attainment in Britain. However, research on how school type influences non-educational outcomes is more scarcer. This paper aims to identify the extent to which school type influences satisfaction with life and mental health from adolescence to early adulthood. Using Next Steps, a longitudinal study of young people in England born in 1989/90, the authors use multiple variable regression analyses to address the research questions. They find that for this cohort there is no evidence of a difference for mental health and life satisfaction by school type for either men or women in adolescence or early adulthood.

Access to Britain's highly-resourced private schools matters because of concerns surrounding social mobility. Using the UK Family Resources Survey, we document a high and mostly stable income concentration of private school access since 1997. Nevertheless, some low-income participation persists. Bursaries are income-progressive but cannot account for this participation. Housing wealth is, however, found to be greater for private school participants. We estimate that a 10 per cent rise of family income and home value raises private school participation by 0.9 points, respectively. Neither effect changes over time. The income effect, however, falls sharply outside the top income decile.

For those who grew up in Britain in the latter half of the twentieth century, there is known to be a strong association between social class or family income and attending a private school. However, increasing private school fees and promotion of school choice in the state sector have potential implications for the predictors of participation in private schooling in the twenty-first century. In this article, through analysis of rich, longitudinal data from a recent, representative birth cohort study, we provide new evidence on this issue. Given the high and rising fees required to send a child to private school, one might think that the decision is entirely connected with financial resources. However, while these remain an important factor, we argue that other determinants are also important. In particular, we highlight the importance of parental values and geographical proximity to high-quality state school alternatives: a one standard deviation increase in levels of parental traditional values is associated with a 2.5 percentage point higher probability of their child attending a private school, while each minute of additional travel time to the nearest state school judged 'Outstanding' by England's schools inspectorate is associated with a 0.2 percentage point higher probability of attending a private school. We also examine the characteristics of those who 'mix and match' state and private schooling, noting their similarity to private school attendees in terms of their values but lower levels of financial resources.

This paper provides the first quantitative analysis on 'first in family' (FiF) university graduates in the UK. Using a nationally representative dataset that covers a recent cohort in England, we identify the proportion of FiF young people at age 25 as 18%, comprising nearly two-thirds of university graduates. Comparing groups with no parental higher education we find that ethnic minorities and those with higher levels of prior attainment are more likely to become a FiF, while those who are FiF are more likely to study Law, Economics and Management and less likely to study other Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities than students whose parents are graduated. We also find evidence that FiF students are less likely to graduate from elite universities and are at greater risk of dropout in general, even after prior educational attainment and socioeconomic status are taken into account.

With approximately three times the resources per pupil in private compared with state schools, Britain's private sector presents an interesting case of what could be expected from schools that are extremely well resourced. This paper studies the links between private schooling and educational performance in upper secondary school, as measured through their performance in 'A level', the main school-leaving assessment which determines access to universities. Using an English longitudinal study, we find evidence that, compared with otherwise observably similar state school students in upper secondary education and controlling for prior attainment, those at private school study more 'facilitating' subjects, which are known to be favoured by high-status universities; they are placed 8 percentage points higher in the A level rankings and 11 percentage points higher in the rankings for 'facilitating' A levels. We find evidence of a private school advantage for participating in undergraduate study, net of socioeconomic status, subjects selected and number of A levels but there is no private school advantage for attending an elite university, controlling for the same characteristics. Taken together with other studies, our findings mean that private schooling in England is associated with cumulative moderate advantages at every stage of education.

Gaps in GCSE attainment have long been the concern of policy makers, academics, and social commentators, largely due to the importance of these exams for setting children on their future academic and career pathways. In the past a wide range of factors relating to the pupils, their families, and their schools have been found to account for differences in GCSE attainment. In this paper we examine the role of pupils' beliefs in their own academic ability (academic self-concept). Using Next Steps data, we examine whether pupils with higher academic self-concept do better or worse in their GCSEs than pupils with lower academic self-concept. Results show that on average, controlling for other characteristics, having high academic self-concept increases GCSE scores by four grades. When we compare academic self-concept to measured achievement we find that both high and low attainers have higher probabilities of achieving five A*-C GCSEs and higher GCSE point scores on average if they have high academic self-concept than similarly able students who have lower academic self-concept.

In this paper, we identify patterns of subject and qualification choices made at age 14. Much of the previous research on 'subject choice' has focussed on the later stages of educational trajectories, particularly Higher Education. However, the choices made at early branching points can limit pupils' subsequent options, potentially contributing to educational inequalities. This paper identifies the patterns of General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) subjects chosen by a cohort of young people born in 1989/1990. We make use of the Next Steps data (formerly the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE)) which is linked to the National Pupil Database. We develop an approach to measuring the academic selectivity of subjects and qualifications. We examine the roles of social class, parental education, income, gender and ethnicity in determining participation in these curriculum groupings. Using measures of prior attainment from age thirteen, we address the question of whether curriculum differentials simply reflect differences in prior attainment or whether they actually operate above and beyond existing inequalities. We find clear socio-economic, gender, ethnic and school-level differences in subjects studied which cannot be accounted for by prior attainment.

The subjects that young people study from age 14 onwards may have important consequences for their future academic and labour market outcomes. These decisions are shaped by the schools in which they find themselves. Schools also face constraints of their own. This paper explores the extent to which individuals' decisions are affected by the school they attend and to what extent this is affected by the composition of schools in terms of academic attainment, gender, and socioeconomic background. We use multi-level variance decomposition models applied to administrative data on the subjects that young people in mainstream state-funded schools in England study between ages 14 and 16. Our results highlight the important role that constraints on schools play in subject choice decisions. We also note the particular role of attending a non-selective school within a selective schooling district.

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.

While it has been shown that university attendance is strongly predicted by parental education, we know very little about why some potential first-generation students make it to university and others do not. This paper looks at the role of non-cognitive skills in the university participation of this disadvantaged group in England. We find that having higher levels of locus of control, academic self-concept, work ethic, and self-esteem in adolescence is positively related to intergenerational educational mobility to university. Our results indicate these skills help potential first-generation students to compensate for their relative disadvantage, and they are especially crucial for boys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives Unprecedented social restrictions during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have provided a new lens for considering the interrelationship between social isolation and loneliness in later life. We present these interrelationships before and during the COVID-19 restrictions and investigate to what extent demographic, socioeconomic, and health factors associated with such experiences differed during the pandemic. Research Design and Methods We used data from four British longitudinal population-based studies (1946 NSHD, 1958 NCDS, 1970 BCS, and ELSA, N  = 12,129). Rates, co-occurrences, and correlates of social isolation and loneliness are presented prior to and during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic and the interrelationships between these experiences are elucidated in both periods. Results Across the Four studies, prepandemic proportions reporting social isolation ranged from 15% to 54%, with higher rates in older ages (e.g. 32% of individuals aged 70–79 years and 54% of those more than 80). During the pandemic, the percentage of older people reporting both social isolation and loneliness and isolation only slightly increased. The interrelationship between social isolation and loneliness did not change. Associations between sociodemographic and health characteristics and social isolation and loneliness also remained consistent, with greater burden among those with higher economic precarity (females, nonhomeowners, unemployed, illness, and greater financial stress). Discussion and Implications There were already large inequalities in experiences of social isolation and loneliness and the pandemic had a small impact on worsening extent and inequalities in these. The concepts of loneliness and social isolation are not interchangeable, and clarity is needed in how they are conceptualized, operationalized, and interpreted. Given many older adults experience high levels of social isolation, there should be greater emphasis on reducing social isolation and the inequalities observed in who experiences greater isolation and loneliness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Embedded within quantitative longitudinal panel or cohort studies is narrative potential that is arguably untapped but might enrich our understanding of individual and social lives across time. This paper discusses a methodology to assemble the life history narratives of families using social work by drawing on quantitative data from the British Household Panel Survey. It explores whether this person-centred approach helps us to understand the counter-intuitive results of a parallel multivariate analyses, which suggest that families using social work fare worse than similar others over time. Our findings are tentative, due to the experimental use of this narrative method and the limits of social work information in the data-set. Nonetheless, the life histories presented bring to light complexities, diversity and the non-linear pathways between families' needs, support and outcomes that the aggregates obscure. We conclude that reconstructing families' lives in this way, especially in the absence of complementary longitudinal qualitative data, affords the wider opportunity to interrogate and better understand the findings of quantitative longitudinal studies.

Objective: This study investigated outcomes of social service contact during teenage years. Method: Secondary analysis was conducted of the Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England (N = 15,770), using data on reported contact with social services resulting from teenagers' behavior. Outcomes considered were educational achievement and aspiration, mental health, and locus of control. Inverse-probability-weighted regression adjustment was used to estimate the effect of social service contact. Results: There was no significant difference between those who received social service contact and those who did not for mental health outcome or aspiration to apply to university. Those with contact had lower odds of achieving good exam results or of being confident in university acceptance if sought. Results for locus of control were mixed. Conclusions: Attention is needed to the role of social services in supporting the education of young people in difficulty. Further research is needed on the outcomes of social services contact.

The key purpose of educational welfare officers in England is to support students and parents to maximise educational opportunities for young people. However more is known about their role in relation to school attendance than in relation to pupils' educational outcomes. Using the Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England (LSYPE), this paper investigates the characteristics of teenagers who received educational welfare contact because of their behaviour between 2004 and 2006. With observational data it is often difficult to isolate respondents exposed to a particular intervention or "treatment", because of non-random allocation. We address this using inverse-probability-weighted regression adjustment (IPWRA) to estimate more accurately the effect of educational welfare contact on outcomes of educational achievement and aspiration. Our findings indicate that young people who had educational welfare contact because of their behaviour were less likely to apply to university, less confident in university acceptance if they applied and had lower odds of achieving five General Certificate of Secondary Education at grades A*-C, the government benchmark for education achievement at age 16. We discuss the limitations we face and implications of these findings for future research.

Pupils' Academic Self-Concept (ASC) has been shown to be related to educational outcomes during compulsory school years, but there is little evidence on the role ASC plays beyond this stage. Using longitudinal data from the English Next Steps survey the authors examine whether young people with higher ASC are more likely to study A levels, participate in further education and attend university. For university attenders, they examine whether higher ASC is associated with attending high status universities or studying higher status subjects. Finally, they explore the relationship between ASC and employment status and income. They find ASC is associated with differences in some of the post-educational routes but not with all. ASC is associated with an increased likelihood of studying for A levels and, for those with the highest ASC, more ASC increases the likelihood of going to university. However, there is no evidence that ASC is associated with going to an elite Russell Group university or related to differences in subjects studied at university, nor is it directly associated with later labour market outcomes once background variables and prior educational attainment are included. However, there will be an indirect relationship which should not be overlooked, as ASC influences A levels and the likelihood of going to university, both of which are associated with improved labour market outcomes. Although not causal, this work suggests that policies aimed at increasing ASC might have the ability to improve students' educational trajectories, increasing the likelihood that students will study A levels and, for some, increasing the likelihood of attending university. Both of these are pivotal educational cross-roads, so influencing routes at these points not only has the potential to improve opportunities for individuals, but also widen access to HE among groups with traditionally lower participation rates, thereby improving later outcomes, indirectly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are international concerns about decreasing rates of chemistry degree enrolment. This article seeks to understand students' reasons for not/choosing to pursue a chemistry degree, drawing on (i) open‐ended survey responses from a sample of 506 students in England aged 21–22 who had studied advanced level ("A level") chemistry at age 18 (as either a full A level or a half "AS" level) and had either chosen (n = 70) or not chosen (n = 436) to pursue undergraduate chemistry and (ii) 185 interviews conducted with a subsample of 18 young people who had been longitudinally tracked from age 10 to 22 (with 17 of their parents) who took advanced level chemistry and then either did (n = 5), or did not (n = 13) go on to study for a chemistry degree. Analysis revealed four key reasons for not/choosing chemistry that were present to varying extents in both the quantitative and qualitative data (relative interest, connection and options; experiences of chemistry A level; feeling "not/clever enough"; and views of chemistry jobs). Four additional factors were predominantly found in the qualitative data (associations of chemistry with masculinity; encouragement from a significant adult; views of higher education; and chemistry work experience/outreach). Applying a sociological lens, we suggest that not/choosing chemistry was a relational process, produced through interactions of habitus, capital, and field. We identify conceptual and methodological implications and extrapolate reasons why chemistry degree enrolments may be declining, offering suggestions for how chemistry education might further support participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]