This is a mixed methods data collection.<br> <br> This project made use of a sample drawn for an earlier research project to explore the different ways in which 'academically able' students attending different types of secondary school at age 11 in the mid 1980s realised and experienced their subsequent educational and career opportunities. It involved four groups of academically able pupils: assisted place holders in independent schools, full fee paying pupils in the same schools, pupils at maintained grammar schools and those attending comprehensive schools. The findings provide important insights into the experiences, qualifications, attitudes and values of new recruits to middle class occupations in the 1990s.<br> <br> The broad aim of <i>Destined for Success? Educational Biographies of Academically Able Pupils, 1981-1997</i> was to explore the different ways in which academically able students realise and experience educational opportunities. The study had the following specific objectives:<ul><li>to compare the dimensions and directions along which different forms of schooling and sponsorship had impacted upon the educational careers of 'academically able' students</li><li>to investigate the extent to which students had been able to translate their educational promise at age 11 into subsequent school achievements, further educational opportunities and occupational locations</li><li>to explore the ways in which their experiences have resulted in the continuity or transformation of social identities in terms of family, friendship or work</li></ul>The research was conducted by means of a postal survey and semi-structured interviews. A sample of questionnaire respondents was selected for interview to ensure that all sectors, schools and modes of sponsorship were represented.<br> <br> A follow-up to this study is available under SN 6501 - <i>Success Sustained? A Follow-up Survey of the 'Destined for Success' Cohort, 2004</i>. This quantitative study revisits the respondents in their early thirties.<br> <br> Further information is available from the <a href ="http://www.esrc.ac.uk/my-esrc/grants/R000235570/read" title="Destined for Success? Educational Biographies of Academically Able Pupils">Destined for Success? Educational Biographies of Academically Able Pupils</a> ESRC Award web page.<br> <br> For the second edition (May 2011), transcripts of qualitative interviews conducted with 34 of the original respondents were added to the quantitative data, making the study a mixed methods data collection.<br>

The overall aim of <i>Success Sustained? A Follow-up Survey of the 'Destined for Success' Cohort, 2004</i> was to investigate the extent to which the differences within a previously researched cohort of ‘academically able’ students have been magnified, diminished or reconfigured now that they are in their early thirties. When they were last surveyed, they were in the very early stage of their careers and a number of emerging issues were identified which suggest that their relative positions may have shifted since then. In comparing and contrasting their progress, this project aimed to investigate the significance of: entry into the labour market of those with extended transitions; sideways movements; variations between professional and managerial career trajectories; participation in lifelong education; regional migration; domestic responsibilities; and, public-private orientations.<br> <br> The previous study is available from the UK Data Archive under SN 3827 - <i>Destined for Success? Educational Biographies of Academically Able Pupils, 1981-1997</i>. The data files can be matched using the ‘iden’ variable.<br> <br> Further information about the study is available from the <a href="http://www.esrc.ac.uk/my-esrc/grants/RES-000-22-0627/read" title ="Success Sustained? A Follow Up Study of the 'Destined for Success' Cohort">Success Sustained? A Follow Up Study of the 'Destined for Success' Cohort</a> ESRC Award web page.<br>