We use detailed survey data linked to administrative records from secondary schools in England to investigate potential channels contributing to the socio-economic gap in post-compulsory educational aspirations. We investigate the role of experiences and attitudes including the provision of information, advice and guidance (IAG), bullying victimisation, locus of control and self-perception of academic potential. Our findings indicate a significant socio-economic gap in aspirations to stay in education, to follow the academic rather than the vocational route, and to attend university. We use decomposition analysis to show that the experiences we consider are not statistically correlated with the observed socio-economic gap while differences in attitudes explain up to 22% of the effect. The findings suggest that investing in self-esteem building and attribution training programmes within schools could contribute to equalising educational outcomes.

Despite increasing efforts to improve their access, students facing socio-economic disadvantages are still underrepresented in UK higher education. In this paper, we study whether behavioural nudging with information provision through text messages, embedded within a larger programme of widening participation activities, can be effective at increasing higher education application rates. We conducted two randomised control trials in which final year students in schools and further education colleges in areas with low higher education participation rates in the East of England region received a series of text messages that prompted thinking and/or action regarding the process of applying to higher education. We find null and statistically insignificant effects on application outcomes, suggesting that behavioural nudging in a setting where it is implemented as part of a more intensive widening participation programme is not effective at increasing higher education application rates. These results add to recent evidence regarding the potential impact of nudging in education by studying such interventions within a busy intervention space.