Sarah Stopforth

Name: Sarah Stopforth
Address: Edinburgh UK
Email: sarah.stopforth@ed.ac.uk
Research Interests: Sociology of Education, Social Stratification, Cultural Capital, Quantitative Analysis
URL: http://www.sociology.ed.ac.uk/people/research_students2/sarah_stopforth

PhD Research

The overall aim of my research is to better understand the relationship between parental socio-economic positions and children's educational outcomes through the application of statistical models to existing large-scale social science datasets.

Sociological research to date has found that those from less advantaged backgrounds are more likely to have poorer educational outcomes. Inequalities in educational attainment, typically measured through school qualifications, are likely to be linked to inequalities in socio-economic positions. I will be exploring the role of cultural capital and children's aspirations to examine where, and why, these inequalities exist.

Supervisors

Professor Vernon Gayle

Dr Ellen Boeren

Awards

2016-2019 ESRC + AQM Full Award.

Education

MA, Public Policy, King's College, London.

BA (Hons), History, Girton College, University of Cambridge.

Academic Publications & Conference Papers

Stopforth, S. (2017), Socio-economic Background, Attitudes and Aspirations: An Exploration of GCSE Attainment for Synthetic Cohorts in the British Household Panel Survey, Social Stratification Research Seminar 7th-8th September 2017, University of Edinburgh.

Stopforth, S. (2017), Aspirations to Achieve: An Exploration of Socio-economic Position, Educational Attitudes and GCSE Attainment, Interweaving Conference 6th September 2017, Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh.

Stopforth, S. (2017), 'Book Review: Student Lives in Crisis: Deepening Inequality in Times of Austerity. By Lorenza Antonucci', British Journal of Educational Studies 65(3), pp.412-415.

Stopforth, S. (2017), Inequalities in Education: Turning Concepts into Empirical Measures, New Directions Conference 21st April 2017, Department of Sociology, University of Edinburgh.

Teaching Experience

Summer 2018, Course Coordinator and Lecturer, Introduction to Data Analysis LEAPS Summer School, University of Edinburgh.

Semester Two 2017-18, Tutor, Doing Social Research with Statistics, University of Edinburgh.

Semester One 2017-18, Tutor, Sociology 1a: The Sociological Imagination, University of Edinburgh.

Summer 2017, Tutorial Assistant, Introduction to Data Analysis LEAPS Summer School, University of Edinburgh.

Previous Research Experience

2015-2016 Researcher, New Local Government Network.

2014-2015 Research Assistant, New Local Government Network.

2014-2015 Research Associate, Education and Employers Taskforce.

Research Publications:

Studdert, J. and Stopforth, S. (March 2016), Get Well Soon: Reimagining Place-Based Health, NLGN and Collaborate: London.

Stopforth, S. and Mansfield, C. (April 2016), All Together Now: Whole Systems Commissioning for Councils and the Voluntary Sector, NLGN: London.

Stopforth, S. (October 2016), Work It Out: Creating Local Systems of Employability Support, APSE: London.