Recruitment to the Administrative Class 1960–1964
| Author | C. H. DODD |
| Published date | 01 March 1967 |
| Date | 01 March 1967 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1967.tb02028.x |
Recruitment to the Administrative Class
1960-1
964
C.H.I)ODD
This article, which has been prepared
by
C.H.Dodd,
is the jrst part
of
a
study undertaken joint& by the author and J.F.Pickering, Lecturer
in
Economics
in the University
of
Sus~ex.
It
is
hoped
to
publish
the second part
in
a later
issue. Mr.Dodd
is
Lecturer in Government
in
the University
of
Manchester.
During
1965
the authors
of
this study had the opportunity to discuss civil
service recruitment problems with civil servants who were explaining to
university students
in
a provincial university opportunities for careers in
the Civil Service. During these discussions we found ourselves asking
questions about the nature of recruitment to the Administrative Class.
It seemed necessary to know, for instance, what proportion of applicants
from outside Oxford and Cambridge were successful in the competition
as compared with that for applicants who came from those universities.
Or,
did those whose school education had been at local education authority
schools do less well than those who had attended, say, independent schools?
Or, again, did classici5ts do better than hi~torians?
At that time answers to questions
of
this sort were not available. The
annual reports of the Civil Service Commissioners include, both for the
Administrative Class
of
the Home Civil Service and for the Senior Branch
of the Foreign Service, information
on
the educational background
of
successful candidates only. This
is
very useful, but in the absence of similar
information about the wholc field of candidates, it is not possible to see
how the successful stand in relation to all those who apply.
Since then our knowledge of the position has been much improved by
the Sixth Report
from
the Estimates Committee, Session
1964-5,
Recruit-
ment
to
the
Civil
Service.
This Report contained a valuable memorandum by
the Civil Service Commission which included information on the social and
educational background of all candidates for the Administrative Class
between
I
948
ant1
1963
inclusive.
(The
information for
1948-56
inclusive
had previously appeared in
a
White Paper
on
Administrative Class and
Foreign Service Recruitment (Cmnd.
232,
July
1957).)
55
PUBLIC
AD
M
I
N
I
S
T
R
AT
I
0
N
The statistical information published in the Memorandum for the
seven year period
1957-63
provides
a
clear picture
of
recent recruitment.
From the figures given it may be calculated that
64.3
per cent. of the total
of
3,590
candidates came from Oxford and Cambridge as compared with
85.3
per cent. of the
463
successful candidates.l During the same period
62.2
per cent. of all candidates had attended independent or direct grant
schools compared with
68.7
per cent. of those who were successful.2
Candidates with first class degrees
(10.1
per cent. of candidates, but
30
per cent. of successes) did better than those with Class
II(i)
degrees
(21.9
per cent. of candidates,
25.9
per cent. of successes) or with undivided
II’s
(30.6
per cent. of candidates,
35.4
per cent. of succe~ses).~
As
to subject
of university study, history ranked best,
32.6
per cent. of successes against
26.1
per cent. of candidates, followed by classics,
24
per cent. of those
successful,
16.8
per cent.
of
candidates.
The figures from the Civil Service Commission’s Memorandum certainly
show that Oxford and Cambridge candidates do better than those from
other universities, but do not take account of the possibility that this may
be due to there being, say,
a
larger number of ‘firsts’ among the Oxford
and Cambridge candidates,
or,
again, to there being
a
larger percentage
of
those who have attended, say, independent or direct grant schools.
There seemed, therefore, to be room for some inquiry that would make
it
possible to correlate performance in the competition with the educational
factors in combination. This, it was expected, would tell
us,
for example,
whether ‘second class’ Oxford graduates with
a
local education authority
schooling did better than Oxford ‘seconds’ from independent schools.
The Civil Service Commission gave
a
ready welcome to this rather
more complex approach to the study of educational background and have
helped considerably by searching into their own records, particularly for
information on the schools attended by unsuccessful candidates. With this
information and that provided by the universities on degree classes obtained
by
unsuccessful candidates,
it
has been possible to build
up
a
more
or
less
complete picture of
the
educational experience of all candidates for the
Administrative Class during the years
I
960-4
inclusive.*
The aim in Section
I
of this article is to present the
overall
picture
of
recruitment to the Administrative Class during
1960-4
inclusive in terms
1By
‘candidates’ is strictly meant ‘candidatures’ since some candidates apply by both
methods of entry.
*The boarding schools among the independent and direct grant schools
did
not do much
better. They provided
31.2
per cent. of candidates and
37.4
per cent. of successes. It seems
that
by
‘hoarding schools’ in the Civil Service Cornmission’s Memorandum is meant
schools that attend the Headmasters’ Conference.
3Th-e figures are marred to some extent by absencc of information for
some
unsuccessful
candidates for the later years of the period.
“We are grateful
to
the univenities, who in many
cases
went to
a
great dcal
of
trouble
to provide the information we requested and to Professor W.Elkan who showcd practical
interest in the research and helped in the inquiry from the universities. Mr.J.Hila1, Fellow
in Middle East Sociology in
the
University of Durham gave generously of his spare time.
Assistance was also given by Mrs.J.Scham.
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