The Scottish Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) seeks to provide a broad competency-based education suited to the demands of the 21st century and is underpinned by strong values relating to social equity. Yet, contrary to policy intentions, there is evidence of curriculum narrowing and a reduction of choice in the senior phase of secondary education (Shapira and Priestley, 2018). In Scotland, as in the rest of the UK, there is no standardised certification system in which students need to take a certain number of compulsory subjects to complete secondary education and qualify for entry to Higher Education. There is also no formal selection and tracking into academic versus vocational subjects. Thus, subject choice effectively replaces formal tracking into academic and vocational subjects and becomes an important factor in the reproduction of socio-economic inequality (Iannelli, 2013; Iannelli & Smyth, 2017).

Decisions made by schools concerning the configuration of subjects available to study during the middle-to-senior stages of secondary school are highly consequential. These are linked to subject choices made by students at ages 15-16 and to their educational and later life outcomes. Existing research evidence on the curriculum choices of young people shows that prior to CfE implementation these choices were socially patterned. There are differences in subject uptake by parental social class and the social inequalities in subject choice in S3/S4 are also reproduced in S5/S6 (Iannelli et al., 2016; Playford et al., 2016). Therefore, the emerging evidence of the narrowing of subject choice under CfE could be particularly detrimental for young people from less advantaged socio-economic backgrounds and affect their prospects of making a successful school-to-work transition and/or entering Higher Education.  

Indeed, analysis of administrative data on subject enrolment shows that the average number of subject entries for National 5 level qualifications declined from 7.26 in 2013 to 5.22 in 2017,  with schools in areas of higher deprivation seeing a more rapid decrease in subject choice in year 4 of secondary education (S4) (Shapira & Priestley, 2019). It seems likely that CfE has limited learning opportunities for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Yet with the exception of some analysis of publicly available data aggregated at the level of local authorities and schools, there is a lack of a robust evidence for drawing conclusions about the effects of contemporary patterns of curriculum provision in secondary schools in Scotland on young people's educational outcomes.

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between students’ socio-economic background, characteristics of their schools, and the number of subjects they select at age 15 for National 5 level qualifications, over the period of the implementation of CfE (2011-2014/15). Examining whether the reduction in subject choice under CfE is socially stratified.

The aim of this paper will be addressed through the following research questions: 

1.     Is there evidence of curriculum narrowing in the senior phase over the period of the introduction of CfE? 

2.     Is there evidence of changes in the configuration of subject choices over the period of the introduction of CfE? 

3.     What are the relationships between the number of subject choices and family characteristics? 

4.     What are the relationships between the configurations of subject choice and family characteristics?

5.     Is there evidence that the relationships between the number of subject choices and family characteristics have changed over the period of the introduction of CfE? 

6.     Have the relationships between the configurations of subject choice and school characteristics changed over the period of the introduction of CfE? 

Analysis will focus on two cohorts of young people – those who went through year 4 of secondary education in 2012, prior to the CfE introduction, and those who went through year 4 in 2014. Our choice is based on examination of administrative data that shows the major drop in the number of subject choices of year 4 students in Scotland took place between 2012-2014 (Shapira and Priestley 2019). This study uses a subset from the Scottish Longitudinal Study (SLS), a 5% sample of Scottish Censuses, linked with administrative and statistical sources, including education data (such as SQA examination results and School Census data). This dataset provides longitudinal information on the subject choices and attainment of young people aged 15 to 19 and allows us to investigate the impact of socio-demographics on these areas. Currently, the SLS data is linked with administrative educational data up to 2014. Thus, the subset of the SLS data used comprises young people who went through the upper stages of secondary education (S3-S6) in 2011-2014(15). This subsample is representative of young people from the respective birth cohorts who lived in Scotland before 2011 and went through secondary education in Scotland during 2011-2014(15). The data is explored using descriptive and advanced techniques of statistical data analysis including linear, logit and poisson regression modelling, in order to gain insights into the: • changing trends in number and configuration of subject choices; • factors that affect subject choice (in S4) and attainment in S4; • relationships between subject choice in S4 and attainment S4 under CfE, and if this relationship is being mediated by young people's family background and by characteristics of schools they attend, before and after the introduction of the CfE; Dependent variables: -Number of subjects entered for Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) level 3, 4 and 5 qualifications in S4 -Number of sciences -Number of modern languages -Number of social sciences -Number of vocational subjects - Number of passes overall, including number of A, B and C passes - Number of Passes by SCQF level, including number of A, B and C passes - Number of passes by subject group, including number of A, B and C passes Independent variables: Family SES including parent occupation and education level, number of siblings, age, country of birth, religion, number of additional support needs, whether free school meal registered, stage of education, gender, local area characteristics; schools characteristics; year

In this study, we are using SLS data which provides us with a unique opportunity to explore subject choice and attainment over the period of the CfE introduction at the level individual learners, and to include in the analysis detailed information about young people's family context. In our preliminary analysis we find evidence that the senior phase curriculum narrowed over the period of the introduction of the CFE. S4 students are studying significantly fewer subjects in the year following the new qualifications introduced under the CFE. When looking at SCQF levels 3,4 and 5 together, we find those with more advantaged family backgrounds take fewer subjects under the new qualification system in S4. When looking at individual SCQF levels more advantaged students pass more level 5’s and less advantaged pass more level 3 and 4. When looking separately at SCQF levels 3, 4 and 5 there is evidence that the influence of family background on number of subject studied changed over the period of the introduction of the CFE . Work on subject configurations is still on going. We expect to find that learners from lower socio-economic backgrounds, attending schools in disadvantaged areas, will be less likely to select: three STEM (science, technology, engineering, and maths) subjects; two or more modern languages; or, two or more social sciences for SCQF level 5 level qualifications, compared to the period before implementation of the CfE and well as compared with their peers from higher socio-economic backgrounds under the new curriculum. These findings are significant for social mobility with curriculum narrowing and reduction in choice impacting adversely on opportunities from socio-economically disadvantaged young people. Further, they are of international interest as they provide insights to inform curriculum making and national educational policy-making in other contexts.

Iannelli, C. (2013). The role of the school curriculum in social mobility. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 34, 907–928. Iannelli, C., Smyth, E. and Klein, M. (2016), Curriculum differentiation and social inequality in higher education entry in Scotland and Ireland. British Educational Research Journal, 42, 561-581. Iannelli, C. and Smyth, E. (2017), Curriculum choices and school-to-work transitions among upper-secondary school-leavers in Scotland and Ireland. Journal of Education and Work. 30, 731-740. Playford, C. J., Gayle, V., Connelly, R. and Murray, S. (2016), Parental socioeconomic influences on filial educational outcomes in Scotland: patterns of school-level educational performance using administrative data, Contemporary Social Science, 11, 2-3, 183-202. Shapira, M. and Priestley, M. (2018), Narrowing the Curriculum? Contemporary trends in provision and attainment in the Scottish Curriculum. Scottish Review of Education, 51, 75-107. Shapira, M. and Priestley, M. (2019), Do schools matter? An exploration of the determinants of lower secondary school subject choices under the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence. Review of Education, 8, 191-238.