What are the real barriers to educational achievement?

What is the relationship between young people's aspirations and how they are formed? Based on longitudinal research in three locations in the UK, this study investigates aspirations and empirical evidence.

There is a high degree of interest among politicians and policymakers in aspirations, driven by two concerns: raising the education and skills of the UK population, and tackling social and economic inequality. High aspirations are often seen as one way to address these concerns, but how aspirations contribute to strong work and educational outcomes is not well understood.

The report:

• examines the nature of aspirations;
• explores how parental circumstances and attitudes, school, and opportunity structures come together to shape aspirations in deprived urban areas; and
• argues that the approach to intervention should be reconsidered.

PASCAL Affiliates Dr Muir Houston (University of Glasgow) and Dr Ralf St Clair (formerly of Glasgow but now at McGiil University in Montreal, Canada) were involved in the research led by Keith Kintrea of the University of Glasgow and funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

The Executive Summary and the Main Report can be downloaded below, or from the JRF website