How HAL from areas of high deprivation negotiate access to Scottish secondary and higher education

Scientific

The nature and identification of highly able students is a perennial issue within education. In Scotland, universities predominantly assess which students have the ‘potential and talent’ to succeed in undergraduate studies through attainment in national examinations at secondary school. Young people in areas of high deprivation tend to have lower attainment in these examinations, which universities compensate for through contextualised admissions. Using secondary data (n = 2478), surveys (n = 594) and interview data (n = 25), this conference paper will use Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model to explore the complexities of how young people in areas of high deprivation negotiate access to high value assessments in their school contexts, exploring hidden structural barriers to accessing high value examinations. Bourdieu’s concepts of field, capital and habitus will be utilized to show how class position in secondary schools constrains the opportunities presented to young people to participate in the academic field.