Household deprivation and socio-economic background are among the most significant factors affecting post-16 education choices in Wales, according to a new study.

The report, from the Wales Centre for Public Policy based at Cardiff University, was commissioned by the Welsh Government to support Medr, the new Commission for Tertiary Education and Research.

WCPP research associate Dr Jack Price said: “Personal and household characteristics, especially deprivation and socio-economic background – measured in a variety of ways, still go a long way in determining whether people access tertiary education and, if they do, whether they take more ‘academic’ or ‘vocational’ pathways."

The report revealed:

•    Learners eligible for free school meals are less than half as likely to progress to higher education (19 per cent) than those not eligible (43 per cent) and around 50 per cent more likely not to be in tertiary education at all.
•    Half of students whose parents hold a degree qualification or equivalent choose sixth form compared to 19 per cent of those whose parents hold no qualifications.
•    Disabled people are much less likely to participate in tertiary education, with a fifth of the most severely disabled pupils not in sixth form or further education.
•    Eighteen per cent of learners who are limited a lot by a disability progress to higher education, compared to 27 per cent who are limited a little and 42 per cent who were not limited by a disability.  
•    Learners from households that are deprived across multiple dimensions are less likely to enter tertiary education, are more likely to undertake lower level vocational qualifications, are more likely to drop out of their courses; are least likely to attend HE; and exhibit lower levels of attainment across the board.