Education and choice in the United Kingdom: measuring school choice policies in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland (1980–2020)

ABSTRACT

This article introduces and discusses the findings of the United Kingdom School Choice Policy Index (UKSCPI) which provides an overview of the development of school choice policies across seven indicators over the 1980–2020 period, comparing how each of these policy areas have developed across the UK. The findings reveal that school choice has increased most in England with smaller increases in choice in the other countries. The establishment and expansion of Academies accounts for much of the rising levels of choice in England relative to the other three countries since 2010. Following a discussion of the findings of the index, the paper briefly outlines the historical context around the establishment of Academies and considers how their introduction and subsequent expansion has potentially provided wealthier families with more options with regard to their children’s schooling as compared to economically disadvantaged families.

摘要

本文介绍并讨论了英国择校政策指数的研究结果，该指数概述了20世纪80年代至21世纪20年代间择校政策在七个指标方面的发展情况，基于此，本文比较这些政策领域在英国各地的发展情况。研究结果显示，择校在英格兰的增长幅度最大，而在威尔士、苏格兰和北爱尔兰的增长幅度较小。与这三个地区相比，英格兰自2010 年以来择校增加的主要原因是学院学校的建立与扩张。对指数结果讨论后，本文简要概述了成立学院学校的历史背景，并探讨学院学校的建立及其随后的扩张如何为富裕家庭提供比经济弱势家庭更多的子女就学选择。

KEYWORDS:

• School choice
• policy index
• UK politics
• education policy
• academies
• inequality

关键词:

• 择校
• 政策指数
• 英国政治
• 教育政策
• 学院学校
• 不平等

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Although we score selective admission policies as representing an expansion of schooling options in the public system given that they provide parents the ability to select schools that are most desirable to them, it is important to note that such policies also provide schools with the ability to select their students, thereby limiting the choice of some parents over others. Therefore, the effects of this measure are not solely limited to parent’s ability to choose.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Salar Asadolahi

Salar Asadolahi a PhD in political science from the University of Toronto. His research interests include comparative welfare state policy, public opinion and parties and elections.

James Farney

James Farney is a professor and Regina Director at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy. His primary research interests are Canadian party politics, political institutions and religion and politics.

Triadafilos Triadafilopoulos

Triadafilos (Phil) Triadafilopoulos is a professor of political science at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on how immigration and citizenship policies reflect and reconfigure boundaries of national belonging in liberal-democratic states.

Linda A. White

Linda A. White is a professor of politicalscience at the University of Toronto. Her areas of research include comparative welfare states, comparative social and family policy, particularly education, early childhood education and care and maternity and parental leave; gender and public policy; ideas, norms and public policy development and federalism, law and public policy.