BOX A: Process details and background of participating schools

BOX B: Quotes from focus groups
 
 
 
BOX A: Process details and background of participating schools

All the state schools were part of UCL Medical School’s local partnership scheme and had active careers departments. In accordance with convention in school based educational research, we sought ethical approval from the governing bodies of individual schools. Focus groups were held during school time or immediately after school, depending on the school’s preference. Participation was voluntary; we donated some books to the school library, but pupils were not individually rewarded. Two researchers (TG and KS) conducted each group. For the Bangladeshi girls’ school (school C), a female Asian medical student in traditional Muslim dress assisted the research team. Staff were asked to leave the room during the focus group, which was audiotaped with pupils’ consent. Pupils were invited to provide details of their ethnicity and occupation of head of household on an anonymous sheet but were assured that they did not have to disclose this information.

School A is a mixed comprehensive, sited between two large inner London estates, with 960 pupils. Its premises are modern and purpose built, and linked to an adult education centre specialising in computer skills. The ethos is contemporary, with no uniform and collaborative rather than authoritarian staff-pupil relations. The recent OFSTED report was positive and congratulated the school on leadership, organisation, financial management, quality of teaching, and flexibility to the needs of its diverse student body, many of whom come from homes where there is significant deprivation and over 20% of whom are from refugee families. In 2003 the school was graded as providing considerable "added value"* (102.2) between key stage 3 and GCSE. The careers department is active with committed and energetic staff and offers a wide range of enrichment activities, including mentoring schemes, campus visits, external speakers, and one-to-one support with applications to further and higher education. However, in 2003 only 31% of pupils gained five or more GCSEs and 25 pupils embarked on AS level studies with a view to higher education.

School B is a well regarded, voluntary aided boys’ comprehensive school in a deprived inner city area with 750 places, founded in the 1850s. It has "specialist school" status in business and enterprise. The premises are Victorian but creatively modernised, and the boys wear a traditional uniform—reflecting the school’s ethos, "to combine traditional values with a modern approach." Its added value rating in 2003 was 99.2.* The proportion of pupils gaining five or more GCSEs (A-C) rose from 16% to 50% between 2000 and 2003. The school has an active careers department with links to local businesses and a small sixth form, which offers mainly national vocational qualifications in business related subjects and some limited A level options.

School C is a girls’ comprehensive in east London with 1350 pupils, 99% of whom are Bangladeshi Muslims. It serves as a further education centre in the evenings, providing vocational and "return to work" courses for local women. There is a strict uniform, though girls may choose Western or traditional Bangladeshi versions. Although a strong science curriculum is offered, the school’s main reputation is in the humanities and performing arts. It is a "beacon school" and has achieved a Department for Education and Skills Award for Excellence; it has an outstanding reputation locally for providing girls from poor families with opportunities for upward mobility, reflected in the fact that in 2003, 51% of its pupils gained five or more GCSEs and most went on to the sixth form. The school achieved one of the top "added value" scores in Britain in 2003 for key stage 3 to GCSE (107.4).

School D is a coeducational comprehensive in north London with 2000 pupils. The school’s ethos is progressive, with no uniform, "laid back" staff-pupil relations, and a behaviour code that encourages personal responsibility and tolerance. It is extremely popular locally and has a substantial number of pupils from affluent homes, though its catchment area includes a large council estate with a high proportion of refugee families. The added value rating of the school in 2003 from key stage 3 to GCSE was 101.7; 76% of pupils gained five or more GCSEs, and most went on to post-16 education.

School E is a voluntary aided multiethnic comprehensive school in inner London, sited between a "well heeled" area close to parkland and a deprived estate. It is heavily oversubscribed by Catholic families and draws its intake from a wide geographical area. Over the past 10 years it has built a reputation as a highly academic school with strong traditional and religious values. There is a strict uniform code, and staff-pupil relations are traditional. The school holds beacon status and is preparing an application for specialist status in science. It offers a diverse curriculum, particularly at A level, where it operates in an innovative collaborative with other local schools to increase subject choice and breadth of experience. It had an "added value" rating of 101.7 in 2003. The school was congratulated in the most recent OFSTED report for overall standards achieved and for the quality, breadth, and focus of careers guidance.

School F is a traditional boys’ selective independent school sited in magnificent grounds in Greater London; it has 765 pupils. Its fees are in excess of £10 000 a year. The school is ethnically mixed, with a high proportion of second generation Asian Indian and Chinese pupils. It has an outstanding academic record, with 100% of pupils gaining five or more GCSEs; its prospectus states that "virtually every boy goes to university" (20% go to Oxbridge). There is a very structured and proactive careers programme with a head of careers and separate universities adviser; they oversee a programme of visiting speakers and maintain the school’s many business and academic links, often through parents of present or former pupils. The school also offers a full cultural and sporting curriculum, achieving an impressive range of national and international accolades in a range of activities.

*The "added value" dimension is constructed such that a school which performs in line with the national average is rated at 100. A rating of 101 means that, on average, every pupil in the school has made an extra term’s progress and a rating of 99 means that all pupils have fallen behind by one term.
 

 
 
BOX B: Quotes from focus groups

Schools A, B, and C were in deprived inner city areas, schools D and E were in mixed suburban areas, and School F was a fee paying school in an affluent area.

Focus group dynamics—example of subversive behaviour by inner city boys

In response to the question, "Do any of you know any doctors personally?":

"My uncle."

[facilitator] "What sort of doctor is he?"

"He’s a witch doctor."

[laughter]

(Eric, school A)

"Harold Shipman"

"Dr Jekyll"

[laughter]

(Nick and Lee, school B)

Reasons for wanting to do medicine

"I want to apply to Oxford … I want to go mainly because I’ve been given the impression because that’s where you become the best."

(Oliver, school F)

"I want to be a forensic pathologist. … I watch documentaries, that’s what really got me started. … I realised that I needed to [find out more about this specialty] because all I really saw was the TV and I didn’t have a clue what it was really about, so I went on the internet, I went on the site for pathology; they tell you how long, so that’s where I found out."

(Vanessa, school E)

[facilitator] "What is he [fictitious pupil] looking forward to about medical school?"

"The money"

"Cutting up people"

(Jack and Alex, school B)

Perceptions and concerns about applying to medical school

[in response to a question on alternative options to medicine]

"Mechanics or engineering."

"There’s always cars."

"Football."

"I want to do sports or something if they don’t get into something else, then I want to do sports."

(School A pupils)

"The only reason I want to take sciences is to go into medicine. I don’t want to go into, like biochemistry or something, I don’t want to go into sciences—although I really enjoy them, I don’t want to end up doing sciences apart from medicine."

[facilitator] "Wouldn’t fancy nursing?"

"No, not at all."

(Sandra, school D)

"I actually chose maths and the three sciences but, even though it’s recommended to chose a contrasting subject, I just don’t like the courses and I just prefer learning about the sciences because I like them, so that’s why I chose that. Even if they say, ‘Why didn’t you chose a contrasting subject?’ … like I did geography, history, and Latin at GCSE, so I preferred it, I enjoyed it."

(Andrew, school F)

Who gets in?

[in response to a question about why the "less successful" fictitious pupil might be having problems]

"Some people think that they might not fit into university. He might be a person who’s not a university type. Just a person … a boy who’s always going out. He’s not a person that’s all educated, he’s quite creative and educated at the same time."

(Ayomide, school A)

"I know somebody who’s actually at medical school at the moment and he … to be honest, he loves going out to the pub and socialising a lot, but he’s also very academic. He’s really quite quiet in a way but can be sociable."

(Justine, school D)

What is medical school like?

"It would give him a chance just to become more responsible wouldn’t it? To become independent."

"He might become a different person. You change your whole life don’t you? This is a really big change."

(Stella and Jacqui, school A)

"My brother and sister went to university, and they just dropped out."

(Stella, school A)

"Does UCL university have dorms?"

"Is there good food there?"

"Can you go out?"

(Questions submitted by school B boys)

"Only 26% of applicants pass their degree first time. Is this true?"

(Question submitted by school A pupils)

"You might have to take a loan, which might put you in debt, and if it doesn’t work out you’ve got all that debt. He puts all that money in and then he can’t cope with the work then he’d have to drop out and he’d lose all that money."

[facilitator] "Why would he drop out? Because it’s boring or because he couldn’t cope with it?"

"Depends what type of person he is."

[facilitator] "Mostly why would a student drop out?"

"Can’t cope with the work"

"Can’t reach the grades."

[facilitator] "Say if you had 100 people start in the medical school, how many of them would get thrown out for failing or not making the grade?"

"Half."

"Ten."

(School B boys)

[facilitator] "Why might he not be happy [at medical school]?"

"If he felt he wasn’t really clever enough to do this or if it was taking too much time or too expensive."

"The long hours. Everyone said you’re a student doctor, you’re going to have to sleep in your car in the car park or something like that."

(Rob and Darren, school D)

Comments on the length of the course

[pupil to medical student] "So how old are you?"

[medical student] "24."

"Old. By the time you start at the bottom of your career, you’re going to be 25/26 depending on what type of medicine you’re doing. To be starting out on your career at 26—that’s half a life, and you’re still at the bottom."

"And you’ve worked so hard."

"And you’ve still got education at 26."

(School A pupils)

"It’s too long. Five years is cruel enough."

(Waheeda, school C)

"It’s most of my life—’cos most of your life you’re, like, in education, so it’s basically … if you’re really determined ‘Right then, I’m going to beat this’ then you’ve got to be prepared to make the sacrifice."

(Louise, school E)

[in response to a comment about the long course] "I don’t really think that’s an issue because any profession you go into—for example, if you go into law—you start off being … you always have to try to excel up—even in, for example, just working in the supermarket stacking shelves, you want to get promoted. If you do medicine you want to get promoted to be a consultant or even higher. In the end there’s always something to strive for."

(Bruce, school F)

Need for information and resources

"Sometimes people [from the university] might just put on a brave face and say that medical school is good, but when they [the pupils] actually go there it’s not as good, so they get out."

(Lee, school B)

[facilitator] "How important is her parents’ support?"

"Very important."

[facilitator] "Why is that?"

"She needs their support, she needs to know they’re there for her." 

[facilitator] "In what way can they be there for her?"

"Kind, help her when she needs it, say that their place is always there for her, if she’s staying at their place."

(School C girls)

"You don’t have that much access to information." 

"I was trying to search on the internet, and the information they gave me—you couldn’t figure out anything from it."

[facilitator] "Has anyone else tried that?"

"I couldn’t find anything. I looked around there, and I searched quite a lot and I just couldn’t find any information on facilities."

(School D pupils)

"Probably find that speaking to people, like, similar to her. If she finds that someone else has the same thoughts and feelings as her, then she’s going to feel better about herself—like everyone in the same position, she’s not on her own."

(Charlotte, school D)