Top girls - young women in independent schools

Maxwell, Claire (2015). Top girls - young women in independent schools. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Archive. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-851340

A three-year, longitudinal study was conducted in four private schools in England. The aim of the research was to examine how social location, measured in terms of social class and being educated in the private sector, shapes possibilities for agentic practice among young women.

Ninety-one young women aged 14-18 years were interviewed, with 56 being re-interviewed 12-24 months later.

The study facilitated the collection of narratives by young women about their experiences of education, peer and family.relationships, and their aspirations for the future.

Data description (abstract)

Semi-structured interviews with 91 young women aged between 14-18 years (with 56 interviewed twice) - total of 147 interviews.

Interviews were undertaken in 4 different independent / private schools in one area of England - School A, B, C and D.

Data creators:

Creator Name	Affiliation	ORCID (as URL)
Maxwell Claire	Institute of Education, University of London

Sponsors:

ESRC

Grant reference:

ES/H043764/1

Topic classification:

Social stratification and groupings
Education
Society and culture

Keywords:

education, class consciousness, schooling

Project title:

Top Girls: middle class privilege and agentic practice

Grant holders:

Claire Maxwell, Peter Aggleton

Project dates:

From	To
1 October 2010	31 January 2014

Date published:

08 Aug 2014 16:43

Last modified:

07 Jan 2015 11:34

Coverage and Methodology

Collection period:

Date from:	Date to:
1 October 2010	31 January 2014

Geographical area:

southern England

Country:

United Kingdom

Data collection method:

Young women from Years 10-13 were invited to participate in an in-depth interview with the Principal Investigator - using a quiet space within the school grounds.

A loosely-structured interview schedule was used for both interviews. The first interview (with 91 young women) asked young women to describe themselves and their families, explored reasons for choosing the particular school they were at, describing some experiences/moments/events where they felt good about themselves/proud of themselves and other events/experiences when they have felt less good in the past 6-12 months. Participants were also asked to discuss their future aspirations (short-, medium, and longer-term).

During the second interview (with 56 of the 91 young women) - they were asked to reflect on the 12-24 months since they had last been interviewed and to comment on positive and negatives changes, elements of their lives they felt confident about and less confident about, their future aspirations and their reflections on their schooling experiences.

All interviews were audio-recorded with permission and then transcribed and anonymised by the same professional transcriber.

Observation unit:

Group, Individual

Kind of data:

Audio

Type of data:

Qualitative and mixed methods data

Resource language:

English

Access and Administration