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Does grammar school attendance increase the likelihood of attending a prestigious UK university? (2023)
Journal Article
Capsada‐Munsech, Q., & Boliver, V. (2023). Does grammar school attendance increase the likelihood of attending a prestigious UK university?. British Educational Research Journal, https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3929

In 2018 the UK government launched a £50 million scheme to fund the expansion of existing grammar schools provided that they increase efforts to attract more pupils from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. This initiative assumed that gramma... Read More about Does grammar school attendance increase the likelihood of attending a prestigious UK university?.

The private higher education provider landscape in the UK (2023)
Journal Article
Hunt, S. A., & Boliver, V. (2023). The private higher education provider landscape in the UK. Studies in Higher Education, 48(9), 1346-1360. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2023.2199317

The private higher education (HE) sector in the UK is subject to little oversight or regulation. Consequently, it remains a largely unknown quantity. Yet, the UK government is keen to foster the growth of private providers as a means of stimulating c... Read More about The private higher education provider landscape in the UK.

Educational tracking and social inequalities in long-term labor market outcomes: Six countries in comparison (2023)
Journal Article
Schindler, S., Bar-Haim, E., Barone, C., Fels Birkelund, J., Boliver, V., Capsada-Munsech, Q., …Vallet, L. (2023). Educational tracking and social inequalities in long-term labor market outcomes: Six countries in comparison. International Journal of Comparative Sociology, https://doi.org/10.1177/00207152231151390

In this country-comparative study, we ask to what extent differentiation in secondary education accounts for the association between social origins and social destinations in adult age. We go beyond the widely applied formal definitions of educationa... Read More about Educational tracking and social inequalities in long-term labor market outcomes: Six countries in comparison.

Rethinking merit? The development of more progressive approaches to university admissions in England (2023)
Journal Article
Boliver, V., & Powell, M. (2023). Rethinking merit? The development of more progressive approaches to university admissions in England. Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning, 24(3), 33-55. https://doi.org/10.5456/wpll.24.3.33

This paper explores how highly selective universities in England have responded to the Office for Students' call to make faster progress on widening access by 'rethinking how merit is judged in admissions' (OfS 2019: 8). Our analysis of the Access an... Read More about Rethinking merit? The development of more progressive approaches to university admissions in England.

Competing conceptions of fair admission and their implications for supporting students to fulfil their potential at university (2022)
Journal Article
Boliver, V., & Powell, M. (2023). Competing conceptions of fair admission and their implications for supporting students to fulfil their potential at university. Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, 27(1), 8-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603108.2022.2063429

This paper explores how fairness was conceptualised by those responsible for admission to highly selective undergraduate courses at 17 universities in England. Fairness was conceptualised principally with reference to the traditional meritocratic equ... Read More about Competing conceptions of fair admission and their implications for supporting students to fulfil their potential at university.

Who counts as socioeconomically disadvantaged for the purposes of widening access to higher education? (2022)
Journal Article
Boliver, V., Gorard, S., & Siddiqui, N. (2022). Who counts as socioeconomically disadvantaged for the purposes of widening access to higher education?. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 43(3), 349-374. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2021.2017852

This paper evaluates a range of measures commonly used to target and measure the success of efforts to widen access to higher education. We demonstrate empirically that the area-level widening access metrics advocated by England’s Office for Students... Read More about Who counts as socioeconomically disadvantaged for the purposes of widening access to higher education?.

What do we know about Black and minority ethnic (BME) participation in UK higher education (2021)
Journal Article
Arday, J., Branchu, C., & Boliver, V. (2022). What do we know about Black and minority ethnic (BME) participation in UK higher education. Social Policy and Society, 21(1), 12-25. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1474746421000579

Here, we offer a synthesis of recent evidence and new developments in relation to three broad aspects of Black and minority ethnic (BAME) students’ participation in UK higher education (HE). First, we examine recent trends in ethnic group differences... Read More about What do we know about Black and minority ethnic (BME) participation in UK higher education.

Reconceptualising fair access to highly academically selective universities, Higher Education (2021)
Journal Article
Boliver, V., Banerjee, P., Gorard, S., & Powell, M. (2022). Reconceptualising fair access to highly academically selective universities, Higher Education. Higher Education, 84(1), 85-100. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-021-00755-y

The higher education regulators for England have set challenging new widening access targets requiring universities to rethink “ how merit is judged in admissions” (OfS 2018: 8). Universities are being encouraged to move away from the traditional mer... Read More about Reconceptualising fair access to highly academically selective universities, Higher Education.

Does ability grouping affect UK primary school pupils’ enjoyment of Maths and English? (2021)
Journal Article
Boliver, V., & Capsada-Munsech, Q. (2021). Does ability grouping affect UK primary school pupils’ enjoyment of Maths and English?. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 76, Article 100629. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rssm.2021.100629

Advocates of grouping pupils by measured ability for instructional purposes claim that ability-homogeneous classrooms increase the attainment of high-ability pupils without detriment to the attainment of pupils judged to be of lower ability. Opponent... Read More about Does ability grouping affect UK primary school pupils’ enjoyment of Maths and English?.

Experiences of first-generation scholars at a highly selective UK university (2021)
Journal Article
Hindle, C., McEwan, C., Boliver, V., Maclarnon, A., Simpson, B., & Brown, H. (2021). Experiences of first-generation scholars at a highly selective UK university. Learning and Teaching, 14(2), 1-31. https://doi.org/10.3167/latiss.2021.140202

Targets set by the UK Office for Students require highly academically selective UK universities to enrol a greater percentage of students identified as least likely to participate in higher education. Such students are typically at a disadvantage in... Read More about Experiences of first-generation scholars at a highly selective UK university.

Lives on track? Long-term earnings returns to selective school placement in England and Denmark (2021)
Journal Article
Birkelund, J., Capsada-Munsech, Q., Boliver, V., & Karlson, K. (2021). Lives on track? Long-term earnings returns to selective school placement in England and Denmark. British Journal of Sociology, 72(3), 672-692. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12856

We explore the influence of between-school ability placement at lower secondary education on earnings across the life course in England and Denmark. We go beyond the mid-career snapshot provided by previous studies by exploiting the availability of f... Read More about Lives on track? Long-term earnings returns to selective school placement in England and Denmark.

The early labour-market returns to upper secondary qualifications track in England (2021)
Journal Article
Capsada-Munsech, Q., & Boliver, V. (2021). The early labour-market returns to upper secondary qualifications track in England. Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, https://doi.org/10.1332/175795921x16119468619598

We explore the early labour-market returns to following the academic track (such as A levels) rather than the vocational track (for example, NVQs) in upper secondary education in England. England is an interesting country case because students are ‘f... Read More about The early labour-market returns to upper secondary qualifications track in England.

Private providers and market exit in UK higher education (2020)
Journal Article
Hunt, S. A., & Boliver, V. (2021). Private providers and market exit in UK higher education. Higher Education, 81, 385-401. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-020-00546-x

The sudden closure of higher education providers is virtually unknown among publicly funded higher education institutions in the UK, but “market exit” is commonplace among private higher education providers. The UK government is actively championing... Read More about Private providers and market exit in UK higher education.

The use of access thresholds to widen participation at Scottish universities (2020)
Journal Article
Boliver, V., Gorard, S., Powell, M., & Moreira, T. (2020). The use of access thresholds to widen participation at Scottish universities. Scottish Affairs, 29(1), 82-97. https://doi.org/10.3366/scot.2020.0307

The Scottish Government has set ambitious targets for widening access to full-time undergraduate degree programmes. Meeting these targets will be a real challenge, not least because young people from socioeconomically disadvantaged contexts continue... Read More about The use of access thresholds to widen participation at Scottish universities.

Let's make education fairer (2019)
Journal Article
Gorard, S., Siddiqui, N., See, B., Boliver, V., & Wardle, L. (2019). Let's make education fairer. Research intelligence, Autumn 2019(140), 12-13

Using contextual data to widen access to higher education (2019)
Journal Article
Boliver, V., Gorard, S., & Siddiqui, N. (2021). Using contextual data to widen access to higher education. Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, 25(1), 7-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603108.2019.1678076

This paper reports on the findings of an ESRC funded project that contributes to the evidence base underpinning contextualised approaches to undergraduate admissions in England. We show that the bolder use of reduced entry requirements for disadvanta... Read More about Using contextual data to widen access to higher education.

Can learning beyond the classroom impact on social responsibility and academic attainment? An evaluation of the Children’s University youth social action programme (2019)
Journal Article
Siddiqui, N., Gorard, S., & See, B. (2019). Can learning beyond the classroom impact on social responsibility and academic attainment? An evaluation of the Children’s University youth social action programme. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 61, 74-82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2019.03.004

Disadvantaged pupils in England tend to have lower average attainment than their peers. They are also less likely to be involved in wider learning and opportunities for experience beyond the classroom walls. Approaches which support learning activiti... Read More about Can learning beyond the classroom impact on social responsibility and academic attainment? An evaluation of the Children’s University youth social action programme.

Reliability of Longitudinal Social Surveys of Access to Higher Education: The Case of Next Steps in England (2019)
Journal Article
Siddiqui, N., Boliver, V., & Gorard, S. (2019). Reliability of Longitudinal Social Surveys of Access to Higher Education: The Case of Next Steps in England. Social Inclusion, 7(1), 80-89. https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v7i1.1631

Longitudinal social surveys are widely used to understand which factors enable or constrain access to higher education. One such data resource is the Next Steps survey comprising an initial sample of 16,122 pupils aged 13–14 attending English state a... Read More about Reliability of Longitudinal Social Surveys of Access to Higher Education: The Case of Next Steps in England.

Performance-based university funding and the drive towards ‘institutional meritocracy’ in Italy (2018)
Journal Article
Mateos-González, J., & Boliver, V. (2019). Performance-based university funding and the drive towards ‘institutional meritocracy’ in Italy. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 40(2), 145-158. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2018.1497947

Many countries, including Italy, are increasingly managing their public higher education systems in accordance with the New Public Management principle that private-sector management practices improve efficiency and quality. A key mechanism has been... Read More about Performance-based university funding and the drive towards ‘institutional meritocracy’ in Italy.