This paper examines the impact of education reforms on school admissions policies and practices. It discusses the changes that are needed to improve the current system, especially in areas where the market is highly developed. It is concluded that the new legislation to be enacted by the current Labour Government should be beneficial, but that more far-reaching changes are needed for the admissions process to be equitable, transparent and accountable.

This paper focuses on accountability in school-based education in England. It explores notions of accountability and proposes a new framework for its analysis. It then identifies a number of types of accountability which are present in school-based education, and discusses each in terms of who is accountable to whom and for what. It goes on to examine the sanctions associated with each type of accountability and some possible effects of each type. School performance cross-cuts virtually all facets of accountability, but (...) is fundamental to hierarchical and market accountability where it is associated with a high likelihood of severe sanctions. This, it is argued, means that schools are likely to focus on these forms of accountability as opposed to participative or network accountabilities that involve collaboration with others. The final section proposes that there is a case for accountability systems to focus more broadly on a variety of processes and outcomes related to the overall goals of education. The existing regime in England is heavily focused on hierarchical and market accountability: a greater focus on participative and network accountability may foster a less individualistic approach to education and greater social cohesion. (shrink)

ABSTRACT The secondary school system in England has undergone a radical transformation since 2010 with the rapid expansion of independent academies run by private companies (?academy trusts?) and funded directly by central government. This paper examines the development of academies and their predecessors, city technology colleges, and explores the extent and nature of continuity and change. It is argued that processes of layering and policy revision, together with austerity measures arising from economic recession, have resulted in a system-wide change with (...) private, non-profit-making companies, funded by central government, rapidly replacing local authorities as the main providers of secondary school education. (shrink)

There has been a focus on policies relating to early years education and care across the developed world and particularly in Europe. In the UK, there has been a raft of policy changes alongside increased investment. However, this paper argues that these changes may not be sufficient to meet EU objectives in terms of quality or the government's policy goals of high quality, affordable and accessible early years education and care. There are major issues that appear to militate against achieving (...) these goals; these relate to the levels of government funding and to the regulatory context. There are also divergences between the providers in terms of their own objectives and underlying values which mean that quality may be variable and access to certain types of providers restricted. These factors appear to militate against the delivery of universal provision of high quality early years education and care. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the reforms made to the quasi-market in school-based education in England that occurred between May 1997 and May 2001. It discusses the changes that have taken place in relation to parental choice, admissions to schools, school diversity, funding and examination 'league tables'. The Labour Government can be seen as having embraced the quasi-market with a similar enthusiasm to that of its Conservative predecessors although it has tended to emphasise social inclusion as opposed to competition. While it (...) has attempted to soften the edges of the quasi-market it has not tackled some of its major deficiencies such as the power that schools that are their own admission authorities have to distort the admissions process. (shrink)

This paper explores the development of children’s centres in England between 2004 and 2008, focusing on the newly created centres that have been located on primary and nursery school sites. Using both an analysis of policy documents and interview data from three urban local authorities, we examine the use of premises and the differing priorities of centre staff and school heads, particularly in relation to the balance of services between early years education, childcare and family support. We also explore governance (...) issues, focusing especially on patterns of accountability. In so doing, we also examine the tensions that exist between children’s centres located on primary and on nursery school sites and the schools themselves. (shrink)

Since 1992, the quality daily national press in England has published the examination results of secondary schools. In this paper, we discuss the policy context, the results that are published, how they are used by parents making preferences for secondary schools and the consequences of their publication. Overall, the publication of examination results has created a range of incentives for those in the education market place. These incentives serve to strengthen the position of certain categories of pupils on the one (...) hand and certain types of schools on the other. The findings are discussed in the context of the Labour Government's focus on those at risk of social exclusion. Modified and additional indicators are proposed to mitigate the effects of the newly created quasi-market in education. 'League tables' are here to stay, for once information is in the public domain it cannot easily be suppressed. (shrink)

This paper explores the introduction of market‐oriented reforms into school‐based education in England and Finland. The contexts into which reforms were introduced differed, with a fully comprehensive system being in place in Finland but not in England; the motives were also different; and different trajectories have since been followed. Whilst there are apparent similarities, with choice and diversity having a high political profile in each country, the policy mix varies: two different models can be discerned, with the Finnish reforms being (...) characterised by more regulatory control in relation to school access and choice, but less in relation to the financing of schools by local authorities. It is argued that the mediating role played by local authorities in jurisdictions with high levels of decentralisation means that the legislative framework needs to be taken into account when examining policy implementation and educational outcomes. (shrink)

This paper focuses on school choice and the extent to which admissions to publicly-funded secondary schools in England address issues of equity and social justice. It argues that schools with responsibility for their own admissions are more likely than others to act in their own self interest by 'selecting in' or 'creaming' particular pupils and 'selecting out' others. Given this, it is argued that individual schools should not be responsible for admissions. Instead, admissions should be the responsibility of a local (...) authority (or non-partisan body); this body should make decisions about who should be allocated to which school on the basis of the expressed wishes of the parents, and the admissions criteria of the school in question. Admissions criteria should be objective, clear and fair and the admissions system itself should address issues of equity and social justice. It is argued that systems where there are some 'controls' on the choice process should be facilitated to address equity and social justice considerations which can benefit individuals and communities. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the system of banding used in England by the former Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) in order to seek to obtain an intake to secondary schools that was balanced in terms of ability. The first part of the paper provides a brief history of the system of banding, how it was informed by verbal reasoning testing and how it was subsequently based on the results of a specially constructed reading test. The second part of the paper (...) examines the extent of banding after the abolition of the ILEA. Whilst LEA-wide banding is currently only used by three LEAs, many schools in inner London that are responsible for their own admissions (i.e. voluntary-aided and foundation schools) have introduced banding. The problems associated with banding at a school level are discussed and it is argued that banding at the level of the LEA is likely to be more equitable, more transparent and more likely to reduce social segregation; in addition, there is some evidence to suggest that the ILEA banding system resulted in a higher percentage of parents achieving their stated first preference school than more recent admissions policies. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the long established diversity in the English education system – independent schools, grammar schools and religious schools – and in so doing explores tensions between education policy, politics and social justice. It explores the differential access to these different types of school, their social composition and implications for social justice and for wider society. It is argued that if social justice is to be a goal of government, further policy changes are needed over and above those (...) that have already been made. However, the political challenges, which have limited policy changes to date, would be significant. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the system of banding used in England by the former Inner London Education Authority in order to seek to obtain an intake to secondary schools that was balanced in terms of ability. The first part of the paper provides a brief history of the system of banding, how it was informed by verbal reasoning testing and how it was subsequently based on the results of a specially constructed reading test. The second part of the paper examines (...) the extent of banding after the abolition of the ILEA. Whilst LEA-wide banding is currently only used by three LEAs, many schools in inner London that are responsible for their own admissions have introduced banding. The problems associated with banding at a school level are discussed and it is argued that banding at the level of the LEA is likely to be more equitable, more transparent and more likely to reduce social segregation; in addition, there is some evidence to suggest that the ILEA banding system resulted in a higher percentage of parents achieving their stated first preference school than more recent admissions policies. (shrink)

This paper examines the specialist schools programme in England and, in particular, the issue of co-operation between specialist and non-specialist secondary schools. It explores the policy and how it has evolved over time, before examining literature relating to specialist schools, segregation and achievement. A small-scale research study, which involved interviews with officials at national and local levels, and in specialist schools, and a survey of non-specialist schools is described and results analysed. Although the specialist schools programme appears to have facilitated (...) co-operation between schools, there are some major barriers that need to be overcome. One of the most significant is the competitive environment in which schools in England operate. Notwithstanding this barrier, the research suggests that other initiatives covering local education authority areas such as 'Excellence in Cities' and 'Diversity Pathfinders' might serve to foster co-operation between schools, although it is argued that school autonomy is unlikely to be the most productive way to foster co-operation. (shrink)

This study focuses on admissions criteria used for ‘comprehensive’ secondary schools in London, UK. It was found that schools whose admissions were controlled by the local authority were more likely to report giving priority to children with medical/social needs and special educational needs than were schools that controlled their own admissions; the latter were more likely to report the use of various potentially ‘creaming’ criteria. There was also more ‘selectivity’ among London comprehensive schools with autonomy over admissions, with higher proportions (...) using potentially selective admissions criteria than in the rest of England. Moreover, it was found that schools with responsibility for their own admissions had lower proportions of pupils with special educational needs and obtained higher scores in public examination ‘league tables’ than schools whose admissions were controlled by the local authority. The findings suggest that some schools, although nominally ‘comprehensive’, appear to restrict access to certain groups of pupils. (shrink)

This paper examines a range of issues concerned with the process of choosing schools in the private and state sectors at the primary/pre‐preparatory stage and at the time of transfer to secondary/senior school. The findings indicate that choices about schools are made at different times and in different ways by parents who use the state and private sectors. One of the key findings is that the process of choosing a school begins earlier in the private than in the state sector; (...) another is that quality of education is cited more frequently as one of the ‘top three’ essential factors by parents of children in the private sector. At both the primary and transfer to secondary stages, very high percentages of parents consider it essential that their child should be happy. A discussion of the different notions that private school and the state school parents may have of ‘happiness’ is offered. (shrink)

This paper focuses on the role of parents in the planning and setting up of new secondary schools in the context of proposals to extend the right of parents in relation to new schools. The research focused on 15 parent campaigns that had recently taken place or were ongoing: seven aimed to obtain new schools and eight to prevent new schools being set up. Interviews were carried out with members of the campaigns, local authority officials, academy sponsors and a DfES (...) official. Issues and barriers associated with the campaigns are explored. Amongst the most significant were access to information; lack of expertise; government policies and priorities; local authority priorities and attitudes; and lack of sites for new schools. The paper argues that whilst these barriers need to be addressed if parents are to have a greater role in relation to setting up new schools, tensions exist between government policies, creating difficulties for policies in this area to be effectively implemented. (shrink)

This study examines the experience of national teacher assessment in a sample of inner‐city infant schools. In particular, it addresses the conduct of teacher assessment in the three core curriculum areas of English, mathematics and science, and modifications made for children with English as a second language and those with special educational needs. Two distinct approaches to teacher assessment emerged, with integration into classroom activities occurring in some cases, but frequently separate ‘bolt‐on’ activities being carried out. It is interesting to (...) note that almost all the teachers used two or three standard assessment tasks instead of continuous teacher assessment to assess children’ s attainment. Teachers consistently saw time as a vital ingredient for meeting the needs of children with ‘additional educational needs’ in relation to teacher assessment. The findings are discussed in the context of recent policy developments and in terms of theoretical models of teachers’ approaches to assessment. (shrink)

This paper reports the findings of a study comparing the public examination results at GCE advanced and advanced supplementary levels of pupils with assisted places in the independent sector and pupils in the state sector of similar ability. The examination entries and results of pupils with APs were compared with those of pupils who had gained an AP at the same school but had not attended that school; they had, instead, taken their A levels in the state sector. After controlling (...) for ability it was found that the AP pupils achieved a significantly higher total point score in their A/AS levels than the pupils in the state sector and that the average point score per examination entry was higher for AP than state pupils. The results suggest that there is an advantage in taking up an AP but the possibility cannot be ruled out that the advantage for AP pupils arises from factors other than their education in the independent sector. (shrink)

This study is based on case studies of five inner city schools and focuses on organisation and teaching approaches used by teachers of Year 2 classes. It also addresses teaching approaches adopted and support for children with ‘additional’ educational needs, operationalised in terms of both special educational needs and English language needs. Planning was almost universally carried out on a weekly basis, with longer‐term planning also being apparent. Varied responses in relation to teachers’ aims and teaching approaches adopted emerged. These (...) were frequently reported to have changed as a result of the National Curriculum. The majority of teachers reported that they grouped children on the basis of their ability. Children with language needs and with special educational needs were not equally distributed amongst the schools in the study and the support available for these children differed markedly. The findings are discussed in the context of past research and current policy. (shrink)