School admissions and ‘selection’ in comprehensive schools: policy and practice

Abstract

This article examines secondary school admissions criteria in England. The analysis revealed that in a significant minority of schools, notably those responsible for their own admissions—voluntary‐aided and foundation schools—a variety of criteria were used which appear to be designed to select certain groups of pupils and so exclude others. Specialist schools were more likely than non‐specialist schools to report selecting a proportion of pupils on the basis of aptitude/ability in a particular subject area but voluntary‐aided/foundation schools were far more likely to select on this basis than community/voluntary‐controlled schools. Criteria giving priority to children with medical/social needs were given for nearly three‐quarters of schools; however, community/voluntary‐controlled schools were more likely to include this as a criterion than were voluntary‐aided/foundation schools. Nearly two‐fifths of schools mentioned as an oversubscription criterion, pupils with special educational needs; these were predominantly community/voluntary‐controlled schools as opposed to voluntary‐aided/foundation schools. The evidence reported here reveals that despite attempts by the Labour Government to reform school admissions, considerable ‘selection’ takes place. Implications for policy are addressed.

Notes

Corresponding author. Centre for Educational Research, Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, UK. Email: [email protected]

Admission authorities are legally required to admit children, on demand, up to the physical capacity of the school except in the case of selective or religious schools; religious schools will be required to admit children up to this limit from 2004/05 (DfES, 2003).

Following the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, grant‐maintained schools either reverted to voluntary status or were, in the main, designated foundation schools.

There are currently 150 LEAs in England.

This list is not exhaustive. For examples of other criteria see Annex B.

613 out of the 676 specialist schools that were not special schools—the remainder did not provide information. Of the specialist schools, 69% were community/voluntary‐controlled and 32% voluntary‐aided/foundation.

In the main, for purposes of simplicity, percentages have been rounded; in some cases, for clarity, they are reported to one decimal place.

A reading comprehension test, taken in Year 6 (age 10 to 11 years) of primary school, is used to allocate pupils to bands.

The English Qualification and Curriculum Authority's optional mathematics and reading tests for children in Year 5 (age 9 to 10 years) are used.

A statement of special educational needs is associated with additional funding.

This is of significance as school performance tables published by the Department for Education and Skills have as a key indicator the percentage of pupils achieving five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C.