1. White Working Class Boys
Tuesday 21st February

2. White British Students from Low Socioeconomic Status Backgrounds
Tuesday 21st February

3. Who cares?
January 2013
Universities minister David Willetts suggests universities should do more to target ‘white working class boys’
2013
Ofsted report Unseen Children highlights underachievement of males in receipt of FSM compared to other ethnic groups
June 2014
House of Commons Education Committee. Underachievement in Education by White Working Class Children.
November 2015
BIS Research Paper No. 186; Socio-economic, ethnic and gender differences in HE participation
Sutton Trust Background to Success paper
Page 37 of the White Paper “Fulfilling our Potential: Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice”
February 2016
Ministerial letter of guidance to the Director, February 2016
OFFA strategic guidance
May 2016
Higher Education Policy Institute 2016 report on white working class males (Boys to Men: The underachievement of young men in higher education – and how to start tackling it)
June 2016
UCAS end of cycle report 2015
July 2016
Theresa May in her first speech as Prime Minister
LMKco report. Including roundtable and literature review.
September 2016
Jo Johnson at the Universities UK Annual Conference
October 2016
The Social Mobility Advisory Group Report

4. Why is this an issue?
Major ethnic groups: percentage of pupils eligible for free school meals attaining five GCSEs at grades A* to C including English and mathematics, 2007–12
Chinese
Bangladeshi
Indian
Black African
Pakistani
Black Caribbean
White British
Source: Ofsted. (2013). Unseen children: access and achievement 20 years on: Evidence report. Manchester: Ofsted.
Figure 12
Figures for 2007 to 2011 are based on final data figures are based on revised data. Based on students in state-funded schools (including academies and city technology colleges) at the end of Key Stage 4 in each academic year.

5. Why is this an issue?
Appendix Figure 5: HE participation at age 18 or 19 by ethnic and socio-economic quintile group for the cohort taking their GCSEs in 2008, males only Source: Crawford, C., & Greaves, E. (2015). Socio-economic, ethnic and gender differences in HE participation. London: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Figure 97 Entry rates for English 18 year old state school pupils receiving FSM at age 15 by ethnic group, sex and POLAR3 quintile (Q1 and Q5, )
Source: UCAS. (2015). End of Cycle Report 2015.

6. Why is this an issue?
Appendix Figure 11: participation at the most high tariff institutions at age 18 or 19 by ethnic and socio-economic quintile group for the cohort taking their GCSEs in 2008, males only
Source: Crawford, C., & Greaves, E. (2015). Socio-economic, ethnic and gender differences in HE participation. London: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

7. A combination of factors
Gender (small differences)
Socio-economic status (greatest factor)
Ethnicity (differences at high tariff institutions)
Source: Crawford, C., & Greaves, E. (2015). Socio-economic, ethnic and gender differences in HE participation. London: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

8. White working class girls
Source (left): Baars, S., Mulcahy, E., & Bernardes, E. (2016). The underrepresentation of white working class boys in higher education. The role of widening participation. LKMco. London: Kings College London.

9. OFFA guidance

10. Two arguments for targeting areas of deprivation
29% of disadvantaged UK boys living in the poorest neighbourhoods went onto post 16 study as opposed to 46% of disadvantaged white UK boys living in affluent areas
Sammons, P., Toth, K., & Sylva, K. (2015). Background to Success. Differences in A- level entries by ethnicity, neighbourhood and gender. Oxford: University of Oxford Department of Education & The Sutton Trust.
Figure 97 Entry rates for English 18 year old state school pupils receiving FSM at age 15 by ethnic group, sex and POLAR3 quintile (Q1 and Q5, )
Source: UCAS. (2015). End of Cycle Report 2015.

11. Effective widening participation
Working with students prior to GCSE’s
Differences in attainment for this groups of students can be observed from five years old (LMKCo report, 2016).
Working with parents and the community
to increase their aspirations and expectations for the young people they influence. Create formal sources of information.
Understanding how White British students in your area identify within the education system
A report by AccessHE (2016) highlights ‘Of every five [white] men from the lowest participation neighbourhoods in London that went into HE, one did a creative arts and design subject. This finding reiterates that males from these backgrounds are not solely interested in sports-related courses.’
Sustained interventions
role models do not have to be from the same background as the students, rather they should be people who have qualities and attributes which the students may aspire to have (LMKCo report, 2016).
Highlighting the worth of higher education in terms of long term financial gain and employment opportunities, and the variety of modes of study available.

12. SES Measures Family based measures: Parents’ employment status
Measures of socio-economic status (SES)
Income based measures:
Household income (or household residual income)
Free School Meal Status (FSM)
Area based measures:
Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD)
Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI)
A Classification of Residential Neighbourhoods (ACORN)
Family based measures:
Parents’ employment status
Parents’ occupation
Parents’ income
Participation in HE based measure:
POLAR3 Quintiles 1 and 2 in receipt of FSM

13. Sheffield: A tale of two cities?

14. A Tale of Two Cities; The Sheffield Project (2009)
Bethan Thomas, John Pritchard, Dimitris Ballas, Dan Vickers and Danny Dorling

15. A Tale of Two Cities; The Sheffield Project (2009)
Bethan Thomas, John Pritchard, Dimitris Ballas, Dan Vickers and Danny Dorling

16. Sheffield: Indices of Deprivation 2015
Sheffield has dropped to the 60th most deprived local authority in England out of 326. In 2010, Sheffield was ranked 56th.
Sheffield is ranked as the 6th most deprived Core City, out of a total of 8 in England.
23% of Sheffield's LSOAs are now ranked in the 10% most deprived in the country. If Sheffield were compared with other local authorities based on the proportion of LSOAs in the most deprived 10%, it would be ranked as the 26th most deprived local authority. In 2010 it was ranked 31st, by this measure.

17. How did we define ‘White British males from low socio-economic backgrounds’?
Ethnicity: White British
Gender: Male
Plus
POLAR3 Quintile 1
and/or
Low IMD (below 13,000)
Previous or current eligibility for free school meals

18. IMPACT (Y7 and Y8) ‘Parent and child together’ A University of Sheffield case study

19. Initial Research Widening Participation Research and Evaluation Team:
Literature review
Central Outreach and Widening Participation Team:
Focus groups with Teachers involved in our current Early Outreach Projects

20. Literature review of engagement at Y7
‘The relentless focus on aspirations by policy-makers is unfortunate as it obscures the importance of other factors - such as structural disadvantages or practical knowledge and familiarity with the education system in explaining inequality. The focus may give undue explanatory weight to supposedly culturally dependant factors such as values, attitudes and aspiration, serving to reinforce popular assumptions that individuals remain disadvantaged because of their own shortcomings’
The generally high aspirations of all students suggest that the problem is not necessarily one of low aspiration but the absence of opportunities and conditions for them to be realised.
(extract Barker et al (2014) Aspirations, education and inequality in England: insights from the effective provision of pre-school, primary and secondary education project)

21. ‘Parents are important
‘Parents are important. Clear alignment between what parents say they want for their children and what children aspire to be themselves.’ ‘In terms of policy interventions, this means working with parents as well as young people, particularly where parents face deprivation themselves.’ ‘However it is not enough for parents and young people to just aspire – they must be able to navigate the paths to their goals.’ (Kintrea et al (2011) ‘The influence of parents, places and poverty on educational attitudes and aspirations)

22. Year 5 pupils aspirations from one of the most deprived families of schools in South East Sheffield

23. What the teachers told us
‘Taking the learning to an environment parents feel comfortable – in school’ ‘Make the interactions fun!' ‘Use language they understand’ – no HE jargon ‘Consider use of first language’ – interpreters? ‘Use role models from the local area’ ‘Clear breakdown of student finance and bursaries’ ‘Be present at parents evenings' ‘Y8 2nd interaction at Uni - consider transport’

24. What will IMPACT do?
Academically Y7-8 are variable with slowing and uneven progress across core subjects and even falling backwards (10-20%)
Yet their aspirations remain high.
(DfE 2011 – How do pupils progress during Key Stages 2 and 3 p.10)
IMPACT aims to capitalise on the excitement of starting Y7 by informing pupils’ aspirations and pathways

25. Engaging with Parents ‘not for the likes of us’ ‘we wouldn’t fit in’
‘I’ve done alright without university’
‘I worry how he would cope on his own’
‘too expensive – too much debt to carry’
There is a strong need to provide information in ‘parent friendly’ language – to overcome objections and ’sell’ the benefits of HE

26. Target Schools
4 schools have been initially selected for IMPACT, based on POLAR3 Q1 and free school meals data.
Proxy
School A
School B
School C
School D
Total POLAR3 Q1
94.4%
80.4%
83.6%
63.7%
Total FSM
37.9%
35.9%
37.1%
32.7%
Total White British Ethnicity
89.3%
93.8%
48.8%
44.0%

27. Next steps Recruit ambassadors and role models from Sheffield:
Next steps Recruit ambassadors and role models from Sheffield: Parent ambassadors, current undergraduates, and alumni Introduce engaging and interactive sessions: Initial subjects Robotics, science, languages Offer learning opportunities initially in school: leading to on-campus visits in Y8 Create a parent friendly website: identify clear pathways to higher level study linked to careers

28. Questions for consideration
Is this a group your institution needs to target? In terms of this target group, which aspects of the student lifecycle are priorities for your institution?
How are you going to define White British students from low socioeconomic status groups? OFFA suggests best practice is using a basket of SES measures where students meet one or more criteria.
Targeting students who are either in an area of deprivation (using POLAR3 Q1&2 or IMD for example) or have a low household income (FSM or pupil premium status) or other SES measure and are White British would capture most individuals in this disadvantaged group.
How are you going to evaluate how many White British students from low SES backgrounds participate in existing initiatives?
Are there any opportunities for you to collaborate with other organisations to address this issue?
What initiatives could you develop or introduce to support this group?