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Donelan: "For decades we have been recruiting too many young people on to courses that do nothing to improve their life chances or help with their career goals.”
Unevidenced claim from the Universities Minister in her keynote at #OutreachOnline this am. https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/universities-minister-calls-for-true-social-mobility
Unevidenced claim from the Universities Minister in her keynote at #OutreachOnline this am. https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/universities-minister-calls-for-true-social-mobility
How can you know whether a course helps someone’s careers goals if you have no knowledge what those goals are?
What she means is that some courses show no graduate earning premium.
What she means is that some courses show no graduate earning premium.
Let’s ignore the fact that earnings aren’t the only measure of value, shall we?
Let’s ignore the nurses, the teachers, and the other keyworkers we’ve been clapping for who maybe don’t get an earnings premium.
Let’s ignore the nurses, the teachers, and the other keyworkers we’ve been clapping for who maybe don’t get an earnings premium.
Let’s ignore the enterpreneurs who might spend years earning less themselves while the create jobs for others.
Let’s ignore the low-earners in the creative arts – an industry worth over £100Bn a year (more than the car industry).
Let’s ignore the low-earners in the creative arts – an industry worth over £100Bn a year (more than the car industry).
Let’s ignore all those who do lower earning jobs in charities, for example, rather than, say, going into banking, because salaries aren’t the only thing that matters to them.
Let’s ignore all that and just unpack the claim that there are courses with no graduate earnings premium.
To calculate this, you would need to know what those graduates would have earned if they had not become graduates. Obviously you can’t.
To calculate this, you would need to know what those graduates would have earned if they had not become graduates. Obviously you can’t.
You can compare them to other people who do not have degrees, but this is not comparing like with like...
... A social work graduate from a disadvantaged background might earn less than the average non grad their age, but is that to do with
(a) their background?
(b) the region they live in?
(c) their choice of career?
(d) the quality of their course?
(e) a complex mix of factors?
(a) their background?
(b) the region they live in?
(c) their choice of career?
(d) the quality of their course?
(e) a complex mix of factors?
Donelan says it’s (d). Not only is there no evidence to support this, there is evidence to the contrary that it is far more complicated than that.
(If you answered (e), congratulations.)
(If you answered (e), congratulations.)
If Donelan is serious about #SocialMobility and making a difference, she must stop spouting lines from the tabloids and start engaging with the evidence and the research.
Otherwise she’ll just be making the same mistakes of the past and further entrenching disadvantage.
Otherwise she’ll just be making the same mistakes of the past and further entrenching disadvantage.
