Determinants of aspirations

This report by the Institute of Education for the Centre for Research on the Wider Benefits of Learning is the result of a general review covering an extensive literature across a range of disciplines - psychology, education, and sociology. The focus of the material was principally longitudinal quantitative studies, although a small amount of qualitative material was included.

Key points:
- There is a strong relationship between the aspiration of parents for their children and those of the children themselves. This is reflected in the patterns of those who have high and low aspirations.
- Girls, young people from minority ethnic groups and from higher socio-economic backgrounds tend to hold higher aspirations than their counterparts. Parents from these groups also tend to have higher aspirations for their children. Conversely, socially disadvantaged groups such as teenage parents tend to have low aspirations for themselves and for their children.
- Aspirations begin to be shaped early in a child’s life, but are modified by experience and the environment. Aspirations tend to decline as children mature, in response to their growing understanding of the world and what is possible, and to constraints imposed by previous choices and achievements. This decline is particularly marked for those facing multiple barriers.
- Practical and attitudinal barriers to the formation of high aspirations are evident. Financial constraints may limit some groups’ access to opportunities and enabling resources such as computers and private tuition. Equally, some individuals are limited by earlier achievement and choices such as leaving school or becoming a parent at a young age. But attitudes are also important. Young people who believe they have the ability to achieve and who attribute their success to hard work, rather than luck, or fate tend to have higher aspirations than their peers.
- Those who have, or whose parents have, high aspirations have better outcomes, even when taking into account individual and family factors, but this is not a universal effect. There are some groups for whom high aspirations do not lead to higher achievement. In particular, there is a gap between educational aspirations and academic achievement for young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and from some minority ethnic groups and a gap between occupational aspirations and career achievement for females.
- The early years of a child’s life are a key time in the formation and development of aspirations. During this time, parents may need support to overcome both attitudinal and practical barriers to high aspirations. Schools can play a part in maintaining and realising ambitions, and the support they provide becomes more important when family resources are limited. Later, young people need easy access to advice and guidance and the involvement of professionals or volunteers – for example in a mentoring role – when necessary.