ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the importance of educational attainment and post-16 participation in context, before considering the individual, parental, family, and other factors which have an influence on these outcomes, using forms of capital approach to consider the meaning of the empirical evidence. It uses two samples from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS): a sample of young people aged 11-15 from the youth panel; and a follow-on sample of young people from the BHPS who were interviewed in both the young person's survey and later in the adult survey. The chapter examines the effects of parental employment patterns, family life and early adolescent characteristics on later educational attainment and progression into post-compulsory education. It represents a real opportunity to consider the impact of parental employment patterns on young people's educational outcomes using more up-to-date data. The chapter presents the encompass elements of social and cultural capital.
