Government Social Research
17/2/06: the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) publish Education and social mobility in Scotland in the 20th Century by the Centre for Educational Sociology (CES), which finds that education policy, by itself, contributes little to the rate at which people move between social classes. Comprehensive schooling is neither less nor more effective at promoting social mobility than a selective system.
Methods: The research was based on secondary analysis of three large social surveys. First, the Scottish Household Survey (SHS) of 15,000 people, which has been carried out annually since 1999 on behalf of the Scottish Executive. Researchers used the responses of 8,500 people of working age (25 to 64) when asked in 2001 what their parents' occupations were when they themselves were 14. This survey also provided information about religion. Second, the Scottish Mobility Study of 1974, is a cross-sectional survey of men aged between 20 and 64. A sample of more than 4,000 men born between 1910 and 1949 (aged 25-64 at the time of the survey) was compared with others born between 1937 and 1976 in the SHS survey. Lastly, was the British Household Panel Study (BHPS), run since 1991, and enhanced in 1999 to include around 3,000 sample members in each of Scotland and Wales, along with 9,000 in England.
A press summary can be viewed on the ESRC website.