Transcript Determinants of Post Secondary Aspirations of Secondary School Students Mark Bowden (with James Doughney) Economics and Finance.

Determinants of Post
Secondary Aspirations of
Secondary School Students
Mark Bowden (with
James Doughney)
Economics and Finance
The Motivation
 Widening
participation in
university.
 Low
socio-economic - ethnic
backgrounds?
 The
student’s decision.
 Rational?
or cultural bias.
The Objective
 Using
binary logit model:-
 Identify
the key variables
 Estimate
 Boudon
the marginal effects.
or Bourdieu?
Summary
 Economic
(Boudon) and Cultural
(Bourdieu).
 SES
more important for students
with ethnic background.
 Access
to internet appears
important.
Theory

Structure: Social systems
constrain individual behaviour.
–
Bourdieu (1973): unconscious
decisions- cultural capital
–
Boudon (1973): conscious
decisions- dependent on socioeconomic background.
Theory (cont)

Non-English speakingstronger support from parents

Greater proportions of
females than males
Determinants
constant
English not spok en at home
Socio-economic status
University is only for the wealthy
Student attends an independent school
Student attends a catholic school
My teachers have encouraged me to go
to university to do a degree
My parents want me to do a degree
course
If I did a degree I would lose touch with
my friends
Internet access at home
Gender
Goodness of Fit
H-L Statistic p = 0.3973
Andrews Statistic p = 0.5408
Coefficient
-2.712749
0.708341
0.194366
-0.210001
0.562231
0.556253
Std. Error
0.346892
0.146982
0.15688
0.053861
0.228884
0.155454
z-Statistic
-7.82015
4.819252
1.23895
-3.898935
2.456399
3.578241
Prob.
0.000
0.000
0.215
0.000
0.014
0.000
0.399635
0.05348
7.472673
0
0.566041
0.055011
10.28953
0
-0.203809
0.739621
0.549388
0.05781
0.179219
0.126725
-3.525485
4.126919
4.335279
0.000
0.000
0.000
From Standardised Residuals
Mean = -0.00053
Std Deviation = 1.003
Marginal Effects

Parent completed university 2.9%

English not spoken at home 11.8%

Catholic School
9.1%

Independent School
8.9%

Views of Teachers
7%

Views of Parents
10%
Marginal Effects
 Internet
at home
14.9%
 Female
9.8%
 Lose
touch with friends
-3.6%
 Only
for the wealthy
-3.7%
Revised Model
constant
High SES english not spoken at home
Low SES english not spoken at home
High SES english spoken at home
University is only for the wealthy
Student attends an independent school
Student attends a catholic school
My teachers have encouraged me to go
to university to do a degree
My parents want me to do a degree
course
If I did a degree I would lose touch with
my friends
Internet access at home
Gender
Goodness of Fit
H-L Statistic p = 0.4173
Andrews Statistic p = 0.61.30
Coefficient
-1.539608
0.699615
0.36486
0.063325
-0.122323
0.319496
0.296114
Std. Error
0.200771
0.182753
0.091825
0.102458
0.031204
0.127884
0.088659
z-Statistic
-7.668462
3.82819
3.973423
0.618058
-3.920074
2.498337
3.339904
Prob.
0
0.0001
0.0001
0.5365
0.0001
0.0125
0.0008
0.225968
0.030958
7.29919
0
0.329027
0.031786
10.35115
0
-0.119947
0.440828
0.319447
0.033608
0.105526
0.073527
-3.568985
4.177416
4.344606
0.0004
0
0.000
From Standardised Residuals
Mean = -0.0028
Std Deviation = 1.009
Marginal Effects
 Not
English & high SES 13.6%
 Not
English & low SES 7.7%
 English
1.4%
at home & high SES
Model Specification
P(Dep=1)<=0.5
P(Dep=1)>0.5
Total
Correct
% Correct
% Incorrect


Dep=0
192
288
480
192
40
60
Dep=1
95
1129
1224
1129
92.24
7.76
Total
287
1417
1704
1321
77.52
22.48
Without the socio-economic status
variable Goodness of Fit tests rejected
at 10%.
Omitted Variable: School results; other
variables?
Acknowledgements

Denise Bett, manager of the former
Equity and Social Justice Branch,
Victoria University and leader of the
Aspirations Online Project Team

Kate O’Rourke, Kathryn O’Rourke, Katia
Honour, and Peter O’Callaghan,
Aspirations Project Officers
References


Boudon, R. (1974) Education, opportunities, and
social inequality; changing prospects in Western
society, New York, Wiley.
Bourdieu, P. (1973) Cultural Reproduction and
Social Reproduction. In Brown, R. (Ed.)
Knowledge, education, and cultural change :
papers in the sociology of education. London,
Tavistock Publications Limited.

Foskett, N. & Hemsley-Brown, J. (2001)
Choosing Futures: Young people's decisionmaking in education, training and careers
markets, London, Routledge Falmer.
References

Marks, G. N., Cresswell, J. & Ainley, J. (2006)
Explaining Socioeconomic Inequalities in Student
Achievement: The role of home and school
factors. Educational Research and Evaluation, 12,
105 - 128.

Nash, R. (1990) Bourdieu on Education and
Social and Cultural Reproduction. British Journal
of Sociology of Education, 11, 431-447.

Nash, R. (2005) Cognitive habitus and collective
intelligence: concepts for the explanation of
inequality of educational opportunity. Journal of
Education Policy, 20, 3-21.