The effect of changes in published secondary school admissions on pupil composition

Abstract

Data from three school admissions surveys and the National Pupil Database are combined to investigate whether changes to the School Admissions Code appear to have altered the published admissions policies and the social composition of particular schools. We show that the 2003 and 2007 School Admissions Codes appear to have been at least in part responsible for changes in the social composition of pupils at schools with criteria and arrangements that were subsequently deemed inadmissible. Although the average impact is relatively small, the direction of the impact is consistent with the observation that school segregation across England has declined a little at the same time that regulations were tightening. Our regression analysis of changes in individual school compositions is able to show this relationship holds even when changes in neighbourhood composition are accounted for. These measured associations that we identify suggest that, if the differentiation of school intakes is a concern, then regulating admission arrangements does appear to have an impact.

Keywords:

• quantative
• equity/social justice

Acknowledgement

Funding for this research was received from the Department of Education. Thanks are also due to RISE Trust, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the Department for Education for funding the school admissions surveys used. Audrey Hind provided technical support for analysis of the admissions databases.

Notes

1. If a school is undersubscribed then all applications must be offered a place, unless the child does not meet minimum academic standards set for entry to a grammar school (see DfES 2007).

2. KS2 tests are normally taken by pupils in publicly funded schools at the end of year 6, aged 11.

3. The formula for the Index of Dissimilarity in an area with FSM pupils and NONFSM non FSM pupils and with j schools, each with fsm _j pupils eligible for FSM and nonfsm _j pupils not eligible for FSM is