participation rate for social class V in 1995 is 12%, again in line with, or even above,
their qualification index from the National Audit Office or YCS.

Table 10 - Age participation rate by collapsed social class, UK, 2000

Source: Callender and Kemp (2001)

In 1989, the proportion of suitably qualified 18-19 year olds who attended HE was
65%. By 1992 that had risen to 90%, and is now higher again. A recent report by the
House of Commons Select Committee on Education and Skills suggested a qualified
age participation rate of 97%. This is what the analysis above confirms. ‘Lower
academic attainment at age 18 accounts for most of the lower participation in higher
education by 18 year olds from poorer social classes’ (National Audit Office 2002,
p.11). This summary is in line with that of the DfES (2003), which points out that
18% of people from manual or unskilled backgrounds gain two A-levels by the age of
18, and that this proportion is exactly the same as the proportion in HE. Therefore, the
qualified age participation index is at or near 100% (although this official statistic is
no longer calculated). At the higher end of attainment, for those gaining 25+ UCAS
points (the old tariff system), 97% from higher social classes and 94% from lower go
on to HE. Of those with 13-24 UCAS points, the figures for participation are 92% and
88% (Connor and Dewson 2001). This means that we can probably explain any
stratification in young peoples’ participation in HE by social class almost entirely by
the stratification of their prior qualifications. So, to establish that groups are unfairly
represented in HE we have to show either that these prior qualifications are unfairly
distributed, or that it is otherwise unfair to use prior qualifications as a basis for access
to HE.

Conclusions

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