Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
This is a mixed methods data collection. This project made use of a sample drawn for an earlier research project to explore the different ways in which 'academically able' students attending different types of secondary school at age 11 in the mid 1980s realised and experienced their subsequent educational and career opportunities. It involved four groups of academically able pupils: assisted place holders in independent schools, full fee paying pupils in the same schools, pupils at maintained grammar schools and those attending comprehensive schools. The findings provide important insights into the experiences, qualifications, attitudes and values of new recruits to middle class occupations in the 1990s. The broad aim of Destined for Success? Educational Biographies of Academically Able Pupils, 1981-1997 was to explore the different ways in which academically able students realise and experience educational opportunities. The study had the following specific objectives:to compare the dimensions and directions along which different forms of schooling and sponsorship had impacted upon the educational careers of 'academically able' studentsto investigate the extent to which students had been able to translate their educational promise at age 11 into subsequent school achievements, further educational opportunities and occupational locationsto explore the ways in which their experiences have resulted in the continuity or transformation of social identities in terms of family, friendship or workThe research was conducted by means of a postal survey and semi-structured interviews. A sample of questionnaire respondents was selected for interview to ensure that all sectors, schools and modes of sponsorship were represented. A follow-up to this study is available under SN 6501 - Success Sustained? A Follow-up Survey of the 'Destined for Success' Cohort, 2004. This quantitative study revisits the respondents in their early thirties. Further information is available from the Destined for Success? Educational Biographies of Academically Able Pupils ESRC Award web page. For the second edition (May 2011), transcripts of qualitative interviews conducted with 34 of the original respondents were added to the quantitative data, making the study a mixed methods data collection.
Main Topics:
The following topics are covered: education; school types; academic ability; school achievements; higher education; transition from school to work and subsequent careers; social identities; basic socio-economic indicators; cultural and political dispositions.
The study made use of an earlier research project (C00230036) to construct the sample. The respondents were previously identified in the early 1980s as representative of academically able students, when they joined 18 different secondary schools in various localities.
Face-to-face interview
Telephone interview
Postal survey
Self-completion
