Morag Henderson, UCL
Department of Sociology (42-43 Park End Street) or MS Teams
Please join either in person or online. For in-person attendees, the talk will be preceded by a light lunch at 12.15pm.
Please email comms@sociology.ox.ac.uk with any questions.
Despite its prominence in the Widening Participation (WP) agenda as a key indicator of educational disadvantage, the status of being ‘first in family’ (FiF) to attend university is relatively underexplored. FiF students—those whose parents did not attend university but who themselves go on to obtain a degree—embody a critical form of intergenerational educational mobility. Yet, we know relatively little about how this group navigates higher education and transitions into the labour market. Furthermore, there is limited understanding of how FiF status intersects with other forms of social disadvantage and individual characteristics.
As higher education policy increasingly seeks to promote social mobility and address educational inequalities, examining the experiences and outcomes of FiF students is important for assessing the effectiveness of these efforts and for understanding the broader dynamics of intergenerational change. Using a large longitudinal cohort study, ‘Next Steps’, this presentation outlines the characteristics of ‘first in family’ students in England from a generation born in 1989/90, including prior education attainment, other measures of family background, ethnicity and non-cognitive skills.
It will also document how the first in family students fare while at university compared to those students whose parents have a degree: including an examination of subject studied, institution type attended and whether they complete their degree or not. Lastly, the presentation will explore how first in family graduates fare in the labour market compared to non-first in family graduates.
