White Working Class Males in British Higher Education
* Level 3 cohort in in 2012 / 13 , who entered an A Level or other Level 3 qualification , going to , or remaining in destinations in 2013 / 14 Source : SFR05 / 2016 Figure 21 : Summary of institutional level ethnicity data by local authority area
Attainment at Level 3 is generally lower across the area for males than females , although differences tend to be smaller in areas where attainment in lower overall . Tracking of the Level 3 cohort beyond KS5 suggests that fewer males in Southampton and Portsmouth are progressing into a sustained destination and overall most recent figures suggest that rates of progression for male learners into UK HEI destinations are significantly lower than their female peers and other males in parts of Hampshire and the South East . Data also suggests that progression rates of male learners are falling . Disadvantaged males ( for example , FSM recipients and LAC ) are less likely than their more advantaged peers to progress into HE , although in Southampton the difference between the two groups is smaller than in other local areas ( however , progression rates for both groups are low overall ). Overall in the area disadvantaged males are less likely to progress to a top third HEI , however in Southampton the reverse is true . HEI progression is lower overall for white students compared to non-white peers .
3 . Why are white working class males underrepresented in HE ?
There is abundant data to show that white working class young men are facing significant disadvantage in relation to HE progression . There is less evidence available at to the underlying causes for these differences , with much of the literature available focusing on the impact of class more broadly . However , from a brief review of recent literature the following are likely to be at least some of the root causes for the growing under-representation of this target group .
Attainment There is clear evidence that the progression and attainment of white British disadvantaged males lags behind their peers . “ Once all other socio-economic factors have been taken into account , white British Boys from low socio-economic backgrounds make the least academic progress during secondary school ” ( Impetus , 2014 , p . 5 ). “ Among those pupils eligible for FSM [ free school meals ], white British pupils were the lowest attaining group in 2013 ” ( Stokes et al , 2016 ). Indeed , for the last decade , white British boys who receive Free School Meals have been “ either the lowest or second lowest performing ethnic group ” ( Kirby and Cullinane , 2016 , p . 1 ). As this table from Strand et . al . ( 2015 ) indicates , white British students who receive Free School Meals have the lowest attainment rates compared with their peers from similar socio-economic backgrounds :
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Figure 22 : Attainment at GCSE level in 2012-2013 for FSM pupils by ethnicity