Top girls - young women in independent schools

DOI

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.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.

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.

Identifier
DOI https://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-851340
Metadata Access https://datacatalogue.cessda.eu/oai-pmh/v0/oai?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_ddi25&identifier=983f74bd1405c526f417895dc3695dc8c6105c6cace2309bead4d7808b2035a5
Provenance
Creator Maxwell, C, Institute of Education, University of London
Publisher UK Data Service
Publication Year 2014
Funding Reference ESRC
Rights Claire Maxwell, Institute of Education, University of London. Peter Aggleton, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; The Data Collection is available for download to users registered with the UK Data Service.
OpenAccess true
Representation
Language English
Resource Type Audio
Discipline Social Sciences
Spatial Coverage southern England; United Kingdom