Scottish higher education, 1987–2001: Expansion through diversion

(2011) - Cristina Iannelli, Adam Gamoran, Lindsay Paterson

Journal: Oxford Review of Education
Link:: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03054985.2011.636227
DOI:: 10.1080/03054985.2011.636227
Links::
Tags:: #paper #SocialHistory #Attainment #Education #Scotland
Cite Key:: [@Iannelli2011]

Abstract

A pressing question about the expansion of higher education is whether it tends to be inclusive, in the sense of bringing in larger proportions of persons from disadvantaged backgrounds, or diversifying, in that higher education tends to differentiate as it expands, or both, by bringing more persons into an increasingly stratified system of higher education. This paper addresses the question with evidence on higher education expansion in Scotland. Data are drawn from six waves of the Scottish School Leavers Survey from the late 1980s to the start of the new millennium. Binary and multinomial logit models are estimated to examine changes in inequality during this period, which was characterised by substantial expansion in both secondary qualifications and postsecondary enrolment. The results show that, in contrast to the general pattern of stable inequality observed in most nations, overall social inequalities in Scottish higher education enrolment declined over time. However, this decline did not occur in all sectors but was limited to the lowest-status institutions. These findings illustrate how expansion can serve both inclusive and diversifying ends.

Notes

Annotations

(14/03/2024, 15:51:32)

“The results show that, in contrast to the general pattern of stable inequality observed in most nations, overall social inequalities in Scottish higher education enrolment declined over time. However, this decline did not occur in all sectors but was limited to the lowest-status institutions. These findings illustrate how expansion can serve both inclusive and diversifying ends” (Iannelli et al., 2011, p. 717)

“inequality of educational attainment has” (Iannelli et al., 2011, p. 717)

“largely been preserved. Shavit and Blossfeld (1993) characterised this finding as ‘persistent inequality’ and argued that the pattern is consistent with a theory of ‘maximally maintained inequality’ (Raftery & Hout, 1993), which asserts that relative differences between social classes in attaining a given level of education are preserved until the more privileged class reaches saturation, in the sense that nearly all its members attain it. Only then can persons from disadvantaged groups begin to catch up.” (Iannelli et al., 2011, p. 718)

“variation in this concept is that of ‘effectively maintained inequality’ (Lucas, 2001) in that inequality at the highest level of the system might be largely preserved, even while access to lower-status institutions might have increased for persons from disadvantaged origins:” (Iannelli et al., 2011, p. 718)

“Scottish higher education has doubled in size since the mid-1980s (Scottish Office, 1997, table 5; Scottish Executive, 2002, table 4), and the proportion of young people who entered higher education by age 21 rose nearly three-fold, from 19.3% to 51.5% (Scottish Office, 1997, table 10; Scottish Executive, 2007, table 1). The expansion also represented a partial shift from four-year degree programmes towards two-year diplomas.” (Iannelli et al., 2011, p. 720)

“Through the 1950s, conditional inequality of entry to Scottish universities with respect to social class was very low, at a time when unconditional inequality was very high (Gray et al., 1983; Paterson, 2003). In other words, when few persons achieved the attainment at secondary school that would give them a reasonable prospect of gaining entry to higher education, social class posed little barrier to higher education enrolment among those who did have that attainment.” (Iannelli et al., 2011, p. 721)

“First, between the 1960s and the mid-1980s, working-class participation was higher in newer institutions than in older (Paterson, 1995, p. 89), and in diploma programmes than in degree programmes (Tinklin & Raffe, 1999, p. 31; Iannelli, 2007). Second, the chances of entering any of these sectors did not depend on social class after controlling for attainment at the end of secondary school (Burnhill et al., 1988, p. 82). Third, while unconditional inequalities of access remained stable overall from the 1960s to the early 1990s, they started to fall as participation reached 50% at the end of that decade (Tinklin & Raffe, 1999; Iannelli, 2007).” (Iannelli et al., 2011, p. 721)

“To a large degree, diversification has been the driver of expansion. In 2001, three-quarters of enrolled students were located in institutions that, before the 1960s, were not universities.” (Iannelli et al., 2011, p. 736)

“Overall, social class inequality in Scottish higher education enrolment declined between 1987 and 2001.” (Iannelli et al., 2011, p. 737)

“Inequality immediately after 1992 in fact increased in one respect: as the new university sector opened, enrolments in the ancient universities, the most elite sector, became even more stratified than in the past” (Iannelli et al., 2011, p. 737)