Practice question · Select all that apply
Which claims about Boudon’s primary and secondary effects of social origin are correct?
Hints
- Three of these follow from the definition; one collapses the second effect into the first.
- If secondary effects vanished at equal attainment there would be nothing to name.
Show the answer
- A. The two require different policy responses, since one acts before the decision and one at it
- C. Primary effects operate through the attainment a pupil has achieved by the choice point
- D. Secondary effects appear as different decisions taken by pupils with the same attainment
Why
The whole force of the distinction is that secondary effects are what remains once attainment is held constant. Equalising grades therefore addresses only the first, which is why systems that closed attainment gaps still found class differences in staying on, the choice itself carries the origin effect.
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