5.1 People from Low Socioeconomic Backgrounds Low socioeconomic background may be defined in various ways, including: household employment and unemployment household income or wealth parental education levels or occupational status living in an area that is identified as socioeconomically disadvantaged The socioeconomic status of the household in which a young person lives may change over time so using multiple indicators of socioeconomic background enables more accurate and precise analysis, depending on the specific research question. The feasibility of using multiple indicators depends on the availability of household-level information in a sampling frame. If information on the family or household members is not available, effective sampling on the basis of socioeconomic disadvantage requires intensive screening processes that significantly increase the cost of the study. A lower-cost alternative is to use an area-based indicator of low socioeconomic background such as one of the SEIFA indices (Australia 2011, 2033.0.55.001) or to infer an individual student’s socioeconomic background directly from the education and employment characteristics of their parents. There are a number of ways participants’ socioeconomic background can be identified by looking at parental background. Two approaches with relevance to the WPLS are outlined below: The Higher Education Information Management System (HEIMS) identifies People from Low Socioeconomic Backgrounds based on their postcode of permanent residence. This is matched against the 2011 SEIFA Index of Education and Occupation by postal area, in which families in the bottom quintile (25%) are classified as having low socioeconomic status. The Australian Curriculum and Assessment Agency (ACARA) Technical Specifications (section 5.1 of the Data Standards Manual: Student Background Characteristics) use data elements relating to parental education and occupation to inform the identification of the socioeconomic background characteristic for students, as set out in Table 2. Table 2: ACARA Technical Specifications for the determination of Socioeconomic Background BACKGROUND INDICATOR DATA ELEMENTS QUESTION INFORMATION CHARACTERISTIC MODULES ABOUT Socioeconomic Socioeconomic Parental school Two modules Parents/guardians background background education Parental non-school Two modules Parents/guardians education Socioeconomic Parental occupation Two modules Parents/guardians background – occupation
5.1 People from Low Socioeconomic Backgrounds Low socioeconomic background may be defined in various ways, including: household employment and unemployment household income or wealth parental education levels or occupational status living in an area that is identified as socioeconomically disadvantaged The socioeconomic status of the household in which a young person lives may change over time so using multiple indicators of socioeconomic background enables more accurate and precise analysis, depending on the specific research question. The feasibility of using multiple indicators depends on the availability of household-level information in a sampling frame. If information on the family or household members is not available, effective sampling on the basis of socioeconomic disadvantage requires intensive screening processes that significantly increase the cost of the study. A lower-cost alternative is to use an area-based indicator of low socioeconomic background such as one of the SEIFA indices (Australia 2011, 2033.0.55.001) or to infer an individual student’s socioeconomic background directly from the education and employment characteristics of their parents. There are a number of ways participants’ socioeconomic background can be identified by looking at parental background. Two approaches with relevance to the WPLS are outlined below: The Higher Education Information Management System (HEIMS) identifies People from Low Socioeconomic Backgrounds based on their postcode of permanent residence. This is matched against the 2011 SEIFA Index of Education and Occupation by postal area, in which families in the bottom quintile (25%) are classified as having low socioeconomic status. The Australian Curriculum and Assessment Agency (ACARA) Technical Specifications (section 5.1 of the Data Standards Manual: Student Background Characteristics) use data elements relating to parental education and occupation to inform the identification of the socioeconomic background characteristic for students, as set out in Table 2. Table 2: ACARA Technical Specifications for the determination of Socioeconomic Background BACKGROUND CHARACTERISTIC INDICATOR DATA ELEMENTS QUESTION MODULES INFORMATION ABOUT Socioeconomic background Socioeconomic background Parental school education Two modules Parents/guardians Parental non-school education Two modules Parents/guardians Socioeconomic background – occupation Parental occupation Two modules Parents/guardians
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