4 research outputs found
Participation in out-of-school activities and the socio-economic gap in children's academic outcomes
Social stratification research has consistently found persistent
inequalities in the academic outcomes of children from different socio-economic
status (SES) groups. Research in the sociology of education has
shown that students from higher SES groups outperform peers from lower
SES groups on various academic indicators as well as make greater academic
progress when assessed at two or more separate points in time.
Recent evidence from the US has also shown that participation in
leisure out-of-school activities (OSA) is among the factors which may
contribute to maintaining or even widening these inequalities. Similar
evidence is lacking in the UK.
The present research focuses on this issue by analysing the role of
participation in leisure OSA in the process of reproduction of social
inequalities in academic outcomes among British school-aged children. The
study draws on social and cultural capital theories to address the following
questions: a) Are there differences in participation in OSA among school-aged
children in dissimilar SES groups?; b) Taking into account childrenâs
SES, is participation in OSA associated with their academic outcomes?; c)
Does the association between participation in OSA and childrenâs academic
outcomes vary across different SES groups?
Using data from the third and fourth sweeps of the Millennium
Cohort Study (MCS), when cohort members were aged 5 and 7 years old, the
research explores participation in three categories of leisure activities; a)
social-group activities, b) commercial-public activities, and c) home-centred
activities. Childrenâs academic outcomes are assessed using verbal and non-verbal
standardised tests, as well as by teachersâ assessment.
The study applied regression models to examine the relationships
between childrenâs SES, participation in OSA and academic outcomes. The
statistical analyses were carried out in a multilevel framework which enabled
the MCS hierarchical data structure and area variations to be accounted for.
The findings suggest that participation in some, but not all leisure
OSA is one of the factors which contributes to socio-economic inequalities in
educational outcomes among British school-aged children. This is because
participation in OSA is associated with better academic performance among
all students, however those in high SES groups are more likely to be exposed
to such activities. After controlling for SES, gender, family characteristics,
school type, absenteeism and geographical variation, there is a small to
moderate positive relationship between participation in a number of
different leisure OSA and 7-year-olds' academic performance. Interestingly,
variations among children from different SES groups were found in the
extent to which attendance at certain OSA (e.g. after-school clubs) is
associated with academic development between age 5 and 7: children from
lower SES who attend such activities tend to progress more academically
than children from intermediate and higher SES
The effects of early years' childcare on child emotional and behavioural difficulties in lone and co-parent family situations
With targeted childcare initiatives and welfare-to-work programmes policy-makers have sought to address employment activation of lone mothers and negative outcomes for children in lone parent households. The present study examines non-parental childcare use and maternal employment among children living in lone and co-parent family situations at ages three and four and emotional and behavioural difficulties at ages four and five. The results demonstrate that negative outcomes associated with lone motherhood are explained largely by mother's age, education, material circumstances and area deprivation; and that maternal employment does not relieve lone mothersâ disadvantages in a way that alleviates the risks of difficulties to their children. However, in any family constellation, mainly group-based formal pre-school childcare does have a positive impact on child difficulties compared to drawing on informal childcare arrangements as main provider. In addition, and specifically for the difficulties of children in lone mother family situations, any non-parental childcare â formal or informal â for at least twenty-five hours per week is beneficial. Study findings support policy agendas which tackle familiesâ material hardship beyond promoting mothersâ employment, and through investment in formal childcare provision, and also through arrangements allowing lone mothers to divide their weekly load of childcare with another main provider
"I WORKED SO HARD, AND I STILL DIDN'T SUCCEEDâ: CODING BOOTCAMP EXPERIENCES OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Coding bootcamps are intensive training programs that aim to turn adults with no computer programming experience into professional software developers in as little as 12 to 16 weeks. In both the US and the UK, coding bootcamps are positioned as an alternative pathway into the tech âpipelineâ for groups who are traditionally excluded from computing careers (Schnell, 2019; UK Digital Strategy, 2022). Framed as a form of âcoding equityâ, bootcamps are said to provide âtransformative accessâ for participants and have even been characterized as a form of social justice activism (Rea, 2022). However, our ongoing comparative study about coding bootcamps in the US and UK indicates that the benefits of attending a coding bootcamp accrue disproportionately across different groups. Drawing upon ethnographic, interview, and survey data, this work-in-progress paper focuses on the bootcamp experiences of people with disabilities, who were more likely to experience unfair bias and/or exclusion and are less likely to have experienced employment-related benefits than people without disabilities. This paper discusses some of the contributing factors to these outcomes and explores the impact that these experiences have on bootcamp students with disabilities. In doing so, it casts some doubt on the âtransformativeâ possibilities of bootcamps for marginalized groups. Although some bootcamps declare their âsupportâ for âpeople with disabilities and neurodiversitiesâ (Northcoders, n.d.), our study indicates that even if and when this support exists, it falls short of what people with disabilities need to thrive in a bootcamp setting