Professor Stephen Gorard's Outputs (17)

Evaluation of Supported Progression (SP) schemes offered by Durham University (2023)
Preprint / Working Paper
Siddiqui, N., Gorard, S., & Boliver, V. Evaluation of Supported Progression (SP) schemes offered by Durham University

Durham University’s Supported Progression (SP) programme aims to help increase the socioeconomic diversity of Durham’s undergraduate population. SP is a combination of interventions for widening access initiatives providing young people from disadvan... Read More about Evaluation of Supported Progression (SP) schemes offered by Durham 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?.

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.

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.

Fair access means admitting more applicants with lower grades (2019)
Digital Artefact
Gorard, S., Boliver, V., & Siddiqui, N. (2019). Fair access means admitting more applicants with lower grades

Using contextualised admissions to widen access to higher education: a guide to the evidence base (2019)
Report
Boliver, V., Gorard, S., & Siddiqui, N. (2019). Using contextualised admissions to widen access to higher education: a guide to the evidence base. Economic and Social Research Council

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.

How can contextualised admissions widen participation? (2018)
Book Chapter
Gorard, S., Boliver, V., & Siddiqui, N. (2018). How can contextualised admissions widen participation?. In M. Shah, & J. McKay (Eds.), Achieving Equity and Quality in Higher Education (307-326). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78316-1

Which are the most suitable contextual indicators for use in widening participation to HE? (2017)
Journal Article
Gorard, S., Boliver, V., Siddiqui, N., & Banerjee, P. (2019). Which are the most suitable contextual indicators for use in widening participation to HE?. Research Papers in Education, 34(1), 99-129. https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2017.1402083

Universities are increasingly making decisions about undergraduate admissions with reference to contextual indicators to identify whether an applicant comes from a disadvantaged family, neighbourhood or school environment. However, the indicators use... Read More about Which are the most suitable contextual indicators for use in widening participation to HE?.

How can we widen participation in higher education? The promise of contextualised admissions (2017)
Book Chapter
Boliver, V., Gorard, S., & Siddiqui, N. (2017). How can we widen participation in higher education? The promise of contextualised admissions. In R. Deem, & H. Eggins (Eds.), The university as a critical institution? (95-110). Sense Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6351-116-2_6

Widening participation in higher education has been on the UK policy agenda for more than fifty years. Yet, despite some progress across the UK higher education sector overall (DfE, 2016), students from less socioeconomically advantaged backgrounds r... Read More about How can we widen participation in higher education? The promise of contextualised admissions.

An Analysis of School-Based Contextual Indicators for Possible Use in Widening Participation (2017)
Journal Article
Gorard, S., Siddiqui, N., & Boliver, V. (2017). An Analysis of School-Based Contextual Indicators for Possible Use in Widening Participation. Higher Education Studies, 7(2), Article 79. https://doi.org/10.5539/hes.v7n2p79

This paper looks at the National Pupil Database for England in terms of variables that could be used by universities to help them assess undergraduate applications. Where a young person is obviously disadvantaged, this can be taken into account in co... Read More about An Analysis of School-Based Contextual Indicators for Possible Use in Widening Participation.

A more radical approach to contextualised admissions. In Where Next for Widening Participation and Fair Access? New Insights from Leading Thinkers. (2017)
Book Chapter
Boliver, V., Gorard, S., & Siddiqui, N. (in press). A more radical approach to contextualised admissions. In Where Next for Widening Participation and Fair Access? New Insights from Leading Thinkers. In Where next for widening participation and fair access? (23-28). Oxford: HEPI/Brightside

Which are the most suitable contextual indicators for use in widening participation to HE? (2017)
Preprint / Working Paper
Gorard, S., Boliver, V., Siddiqui, N., Banerjee, P., & Morris, R. Which are the most suitable contextual indicators for use in widening participation to HE?

UK universities are increasingly making decisions about undergraduate admissions with reference to various contextual indicators which are intended to identify whether or not an applicant comes from a disadvantaged family, neighbourhood or school env... Read More about Which are the most suitable contextual indicators for use in widening participation to HE?.

Will the Use of Contextual Indicators Make UK Higher Education Admissions Fairer? (2015)
Journal Article
Boliver, V., Gorard, S., & Siddiqui, N. (2015). Will the Use of Contextual Indicators Make UK Higher Education Admissions Fairer?. Education Sciences, 5(4), 306-322. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci5040306

In the UK, as elsewhere, the use of ‘contextual’ data has been strongly advocated in order to inform undergraduate admissions decision-making. More than a third of UK universities currently take the socioeconomic or other background context of underg... Read More about Will the Use of Contextual Indicators Make UK Higher Education Admissions Fairer?.