College social position indices (from 2023)

The Social Position Index (SPI) makes it possible to apprehend the social status of pupils from the social professions and categories (SCI) of their parents. Each PCS or torque of PCS is associated with a numeric value of the IPS. This numerical value corresponds to a quantitative summary of a set of socio-economic and cultural attributes related to academic achievement. The higher the social position index (SPI), the more pupils are on average of favoured social origin. The weaker it is, the more socially disadvantaged students are of origin. Specifically, the index reference values for each CSP, or pair of CSPs, are determined using a statistical method that makes it possible to synthesize a set of characteristics describing the living conditions of students (see article by Rocher, 2016). The index of a given CSP is thus the quantitative summary of a number of socio-economic and cultural attributes related to academic success, which is found on average for this CSP. The first version of the index, used until the start of the 2021 school year, was calculated on the basis of data from the DEPP panel of pupils who entered sixth grade in 2007. For these 35,000 students on the panel, there is a wealth of information on their living conditions that makes it possible to establish the PCS-IPS passage table. At the start of the 2022 school year, this transition table was updated by mobilising data from the DEPP panel of students who entered CP in 2011. Once the parents' SPCs are filled in, which is the case for the vast majority of second-degree students, it is sufficient to apply these reference values and to consider this new variable as an index, i.e. quantitatively. The social level of a school is assessed through the calculation of the average IPS of the students who are in school there. It should be borne in mind that, like any summary index, it is a simplified summary of reality, which cannot on its own reflect the complexity of the socio-economic and cultural situation of pupils admitted to an establishment. As the SPI is based on the SPCs reported by families and registered by institutions, it is subject to a certain margin of error: Thus, it is advisable not to over-interpret differences of 3 points or less concerning the average IPS of institutions. Finally, it should be noted that the methodology for calculating the index has changed, resulting in a break in series from the start of 2022: the benchmarks of the index have changed and pupils with uninformed SPCs of both parents are no longer included in the calculation of the average SPI of their school (passing table available as an attachment below). In the private sector under contract, developments in the upturn in the CSPs occurred at the start of the 2023 financial year: the second CSP, which had only very partially recovered so far, saw a very significant change in its availability rate at the bases (from around 15% to 75%). At the same time, private institutions’ SPIs increased at the start of the 2023 school year (+3 points on average), which is directly related to this trend in the second CSP. Thus, developments in SPI among private colleges between 2022 and 2023 need to be interpreted with caution. The social heterogeneity index of an institution corresponds to the standard deviation of the social position index (SPI) of its students. The higher it is, the more diverse the social profile of students. This index has been calculated since the start of the 2019 academic year only for second-degree institutions. As for the calculation of the average SPI, from the start of the 2022 school year, pupils whose SPCs of both parents are not provided are excluded from the scope of the calculation of the standard deviation. **Field** The file provides the average IPS within an establishment as well as the standard deviation of its pupils’ IPS for the French colleges under the supervision of National Education, public and private under contract, public and private under contract, calculated on the basis of data from the N school year and for all the pupils in the establishment. In the file provided, each line corresponds to a college for a given school year. **Reference** Rocher, T. (2016). Construction of a social position index for pupils. Education & Training, DEPP, 90, pp.5-27. Dauphant F., Evain F., Guillerm M., Simon C., Rocher T. (2023), The Social Position Index (SPI): a statistical tool to describe social inequalities between institutions. Depp information note No 23.16. Find out more about the social position index: <https://www.education.gouv.fr/l-index-de-positione-sociale-ips-357755>