Educational Attainment and Society

(Hardback)

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Sophisticated monograph focussing on attainment at the end of secondary/high school education (and the interface with tertiary education). Combines re-analysis of secondary literature (including official statistics, institutional histories, interview data) and analysis of qualitative and quantitative primary research using descriptive and inferential statistics, value-added analysis and grounded theory. The results show the siginificance and weakness of both the mid-twentieth century classic analyses of social clas and the late-twentieth century feminist approaches. Shows how a joint consideration of social issues, in particular of gender and social stratification, produce a powerful model for explaining attainment with important implications for policy on (a) boys' underachievement and (b) participation in higher education.

Reviews

"This is a timely and bold book detailing the findings of a mixed-methods, longitudinal study of differential educational attainment across three sixth-form colleges in England... [with] some interesting asides in the book... What makes this a fascinating work is the insight that it provides into the approach to educational research" -- Educational Development
"This book offers a useful contribution to the debate on educational attainment, recognizing as it does the importance of a multi-dimensional approach to the subject. It also makes good use of a mixed methods approach to research which helps to strengthen the book... As a researcher concerned with issues of equity and diversity in education, particularly in terms of access to higher education, I found the book interesting and useful for its attention to detail... postgraduate students would learn from Kettley's detailed approach and thorough defence of his methods" Sandra Cooke, International Journal of Research & Method in Education, July 2008

Author Bio

Nigel Kettley is Lecturer in Social Science at the Institute of Continuing Education and Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK.