Book review: miseducation: inequality, education and the working classes by Diane Reay

In Miseducation: Inequality, Education and the Working Classes, Diane Reay draws on interviews with over 500 children to explore the class inequalities that persist in UK education today from the transition to secondary school up to university. The book’s personalisation of everyday working-class experiences of education, combined with statistical evidence on continued inequality, makes this engaging and timely reading, finds Natasha Codiroli Mcmaster

Book review: Miseducation: inequality, education and the working classes by Diane Reay

In Miseducation: Inequality, Education and the Working Classes, Diane Reay draws on interviews with over 500 children to explore the class inequalities that persist in UK education today from the transition to secondary school up to university. The book’s personalisation of everyday working-class experiences of education, combined with statistical evidence on continued inequality, makes this engaging and timely reading, finds Natasha Codiroli Mcmaster

Women are less likely to study STEM subjects - but disadvantaged women are even less so

The gender divide in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics study is more complicated than most researchers, policy makers, and practitioners previously thought, writes Natasha Codiroli Mcmaster. She explains that young women's social circumstances play a key role in whether they choose to study STEM at university

Book review: the equality effect: improving life for everyone by Danny Dorling

In The Equality Effect: Improving Life for Everyone, Danny Dorling delivers evidence that more equal countries enjoy better outcomes, with their populations being happier, healthier and more creative, producing less waste and committing fewer crimes. This optimistic book is a pleasure to read, writes Natasha Codiroli Mcmaster, and encourages us to see greater equality – and its social benefits – as being within our reach. If you are interested in this book, you may also like to watch a video or listen to a podcast of Danny Dorling’s recent LSE lecture, ‘The Equality Effect: Improving Life for Everyone’, recorded on 18 May 2017

Stratification into field of study in Higher Education

This thesis analyses the extent students are stratified into subjects depending on their social background, and the consequences of this in the labour market. I draw on analysis from three longitudinal cohort studies; Next Steps, the 1970 British Cohort Study, and the US study National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY79). It makes four unique contributions to the literature on educational inequality and subject choice. Firstly, in a joint-authored paper, it offers an overview of the use of intersectionality as a method in quantitative educational research. We make the case that the method should be used more readily in research measuring inequalities in education. Secondly, I empirically test the relationships between students’ characteristics, including their social background, ethnicity and gender, and field of study in higher education. I find that parents’ level of education is more strongly associated with subject choices than either social class or financial resources, suggesting a preferred focus of future research into stratification by subject. I also find that gender and social background interact in determining choice of degree subject. Thirdly, I go on to explore the psychological mechanisms that may drive differences in subject choices. I find differing relationships between students’ personal attitudes and university choices depending on social background. Students from more advantaged backgrounds appeared most likely to choose subjects they enjoyed and thought they were good at. My final chapter compares the relationship between social background and subject choice in the UK and the US. I find that parental education was associated with subject choice for the US cohort, but not the UK cohort. I further test how far these differences explained disparities in earnings in adulthood, and do not find evidence that differences in field of study by background contribute to earnings inequalities in later life

The contribution of intersectionality to quantitative research into educational inequalities

Educational inequalities are one of the most critical issues facing contemporary societies. While there is a substantial body of quantitative literature tracking inequalities in education based on students’ characteristics, an emerging literature is applying the concept of intersectionality to acknowledge the multiple, overlapping impact of these characteristics. We discuss the contributions of intersectionality to quantitative research on (vertical and horizontal) educational inequalities (attainment and subject choice). We then discuss the limitations inherent in this work, along with methodological innovations aimed at addressing these limitations. Finally, we make recommendations for researchers, to encourage greater use of intersectionality in quantitative educational research and thereby to deepen our knowledge of inequalities