Grammar schools create wider pay gap, research finds
In social science research there is always a problem with attribution. I suggest the authors of the study profiled here read ”Freakonomics”. It feels to me like they were looking for something they then found………….
Areas with grammar schools create a wider pay gap between winners and losers than among peers in areas with comprehensive schools, research published on Thursday by the Institute of Education found.
The researchers found that for workers born in regions with selective schools – such as Kent – those at the top of the pay scale enjoyed a wider margin in hourly pay rates over those at the bottom of the pay scale than the equivalent gap in areas with comprehensives.
The average hourly wage difference between the top 10% and bottom 10% of earners in selective schooling areas was £16.41 between 2009 and 2012, while in areas with comprehensives, the equivalent earnings gap was just £12.33, said researchers from the universities of Bristol and Bath and the Institute of Education, University of London.
The highest earners from grammar school areas were also found to be better off – by £1.31 per hour, on average – than top earners born in similar comprehensive authorities.
The researchers used data gathered by a study following 40,000 UK households. Even after adjusting for gender, ethnicity, parents’ education level and occupational class, and labour market conditions, they still found that 18% of the gap could be explained by the school system.