A report examined gender bias in progression to a range of gendered A level subjects in co-educational English schools, using data from the National Pupil Database. It said that almost half of co-educational state-funded schools were worsening the gender imbalance in the examined pairs of subjects (English and mathematics; biology and physics; and psychology and economics). The report recommended that gender imbalance should be included in the range of school performance indicators.
Source: Closing Doors: Exploring gender and subject choice in schools, Institute of Physics
Links: Report | IOP press release | press release | Education Minister's speech | ATL press release | BBC report
Date: 2013-Dec
A report provided a summary of findings from a seminar series that considered some of the main challenges facing London's Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) children and young people. It said that some progress had been made in addressing racial inequality, but BAME children and young people still faced unequal outcomes in many key areas, such as: education; training; employment; criminal justice; mental health and well-being; and the lack of voice in the development of policy and practice. The report made a range of recommendations in these areas to government and other stakeholders.
Source: Eleanor Stokes and Barbara Nea, Shaping the Future: Getting the best for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic children and young people – seminar series report, Race on the Agenda (ROTA)
Links: Report | ROTA press release
Date: 2013-Dec
A report examined how parents chose schools, and the measures they took to ensure that their children could access 'good' ones. It said that around one third of professional parents had moved to an area which they thought had good schools, and 18 per cent had moved into a specific catchment area. It said there was a gap between different social classes in the extent to which these, or other, costly strategies were employed. The report made recommendations, including: means-tested vouchers for extra tuition, books and cultural activities; better information about accessing free school transport; and the encouragement of random allocation and banding systems for school place allocations.
Source: Becky Francis and Merryn Hutchings, Parent Power? Using money and information to boost children s chances of educational success, Sutton Trust
Links: Report | Sutton Trust press release | NASUWT press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2013-Dec
An article examined the literacy of the adolescents in European countries at the point of leaving basic education. It looked at the most persistent inequities, including the gender gap, the socio-economic gap, the migrant gap, and the digital gap.
Source: Sari Sulkunen, 'Adolescent literacy in Europe – an urgent call for action', European Journal of Education, Volume 48 Issue 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Dec
A special issue of a journal examined education and social mobility.
Source: British Journal of Sociology of Education, Volume 34 Issue 5-6
Links: Table of contents
Notes: Articles included:
A.H. Halsey, 'Reflections on education and social mobility'
Fiona Devine and Yaojun Li, 'The changing relationship between origins, education and destinations in the 1990s and 2000s'
Carol Vincent, Stephen Ball, Nicola Rollock, and David Gillborn, 'Three generations of racism: Black middle-class children and schooling'
Date: 2013-Dec
The inspectorate for education and training in Wales said that many schools were aware of the need to address inequalities and improve the well-being of disadvantaged pupils, but such work was not a sufficiently high priority for schools. The report highlighted areas of good practice, such as a dedicated member of staff to co-ordinate the work of multiple agencies, and the use of a family nurture room within school. Recommendations for schools, local authorities and consortia included: that schools work to develop a common approach; and for schools to work with other agencies to involve families in school life.
Source: Working Together to Tackle the Impact of Poverty on Educational Achievement, Estyn
Links: Report | Estyn press release
Date: 2013-Dec
A report examined access to grammar school places in England and the range of inequalities among the pupils who gained entrance. It said that pupils who were eligible for free school meals were underrepresented in grammar schools, compared with both other state school educated entrants and those pupils previously educated in private schools. The report called for a range of actions to improve equality of access.
Source: Jonathan Cribb, David Jesson, Luke Sibieta, Amy Skipp, and Anna Vignoles, Poor Grammar: Entry into grammar schools for disadvantaged pupils in England, Sutton Trust
Links: Report | Sutton Trust press release | Guardian report
Date: 2013-Nov
A report examined the extent to which differences in parental characteristics explain differences in cognitive and socio-emotional development between children at older ages.
Source: Claire Crawford, Alissa Goodman, and Ellen Greaves, Cohabitation, Marriage, Relationship Stability and Child Outcomes: Final report, Institute for Fiscal Studies
Links: Report | IFS comment | Nuffield press release
Date: 2013-Oct
A report said that boys, and children in poverty, could quickly close the attainment gap with other children if they were given the right early literacy support, and that the impact on their learning was long-lasting. 83 per cent of disadvantaged children in a 'reading recovery' scheme achieved the age-related expectations for literacy after six years, compared with 85 per cent of their more advantaged peers.
Source: Reading Recovery: Annual technical report for the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland 2012-13, European Centre for Reading Recovery (Institute of Education, University of London)
Links: Report | IOE press release
Date: 2013-Oct
A report highlighted the impact of poverty and deprivation on the educational outcomes of children, proposing that the government should act to reduce the disadvantages that children faced. The report announced the launch of the new Born to Read programme by Save the Children, aimed at helping those who were behind at age seven with reading.
Source: Hollie Warren and Will Paxton, Too Young to Fail: Giving all children a fair start in life, Save the Children
Links: Report | SCF press release | Guardian report | CBI press release | BBC report | Daily Mail report
Date: 2013-Oct
A paper examined inequality in the education system, calling for an end to an examination-driven syllabus, and for a network of uniform 'common schools', governed by local stakeholders. The paper also called for education to be linked to other anti-poverty strategies.
Source: Stephen Ball, Education, Justice and Democracy: The struggle over ignorance and opportunity, Centre for Labour and Social Studies
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Oct
An article examined the educational outcomes of ex-preterm infants. The research had found that almost one third of children born prematurely (before 37 weeks) performed less well in Key Stage 1 tests than their full term peers. The article also highlighted that more than a third of the ex-preterm infants had special educational needs.
Source: David Odd, David Evans, and Alan Emond, 'Preterm birth, age at school entry and educational performance', PLoS ONE, Volume 8 Number 10
Links: Article | ALSPAC press release | NHS Choices report
Date: 2013-Oct
An article examined studies of the gap in cognitive skill between richer and poorer children, with some in particular suggesting that highly able children from disadvantaged homes were overtaken by their rich but less able peers before the age of 10 in terms of their cognitive skill. This finding was, however, vulnerable to the effect of regression to the mean and there was no convincing evidence for it.
Source: John Jerrim and Anna Vignoles, 'Social mobility, regression to the mean and the cognitive development of high ability children from disadvantaged homes', Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A, Volume 76 Issue 4
Links: Article
Date: 2013-Oct
The government announced that from April 2014 the new 'pupil premium plus' would increase funding for children in care by £1,000 to provide £1,900 additional funding per pupil. The new funding would cover children as soon as they entered care. Children adopted from care and those who left care under a special guardianship order or residence order would also attract the funding.
Source: Press release 1 October 2013, Department for Education
Links: DE press release | NCB report | Action for Children press release
Date: 2013-Oct
A think-tank report examined university admissions practices in Russell Group universities. The small-scale study examined practices surrounding the use of personal statements, school references, contextual data, and 'preferred subjects studied'. The report said there was a lack of transparency, clarity, and consistency both across and within university admissions systems. The report discussed the implications for widening participation and social mobility.
Source: Sara Candy, (Un)informed Choices? University admissions practices and social mobility, The Pearson Think Tank
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Oct
An article examined the concept of meritocracy, and the relationship between meritocracy and fairness, in elite university admissions. It considered whether, in a deeply unequal society where academic achievement correlated with family income and social class, meritocracy was a satisfactory admissions framework.
Source: Rebekah Nahai, 'Is meritocracy fair? A qualitative case study of admissions at the University of Oxford', Oxford Review of Education, Volume 39 Number 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Oct
A new book examined the relationships between masculinity and education. It considered a variety of educational settings and contexts, including the role of football in the playground of a junior school, and the question of why more boys studied AS-level mathematics (at age 17) in England.
Source: Amanda Coffey and David James (eds), Masculinity and Education, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Oct
A literature review examined recent research into widening participation in higher education.
Source: Joanne Moore, John Sanders, and Louise Higham, Literature Review of Research into Widening Participation to Higher Education, Higher Education Funding Council for England
Links: Report | Summary | HEFCE press release
Date: 2013-Sep
A new book challenged the view that socio-economic background (or class background) had strong and unchanging relationships with education and later socio-economic outcomes in western countries, and that this link was resistant to policy and social change. The influence of socio-economic background for education was moderate and most often declining, and socio-economic background had only very weak impacts on adults' occupation and earnings after taking into account education and cognitive ability.
Source: Gary Marks, Education, Social Background and Cognitive Ability: The decline of the social, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Sep
A think-tank report examined a range of studies on the impact of faith schools in England. It said that although there was evidence about faith schools' social and educational impact, it was rarely simple or straightforward, and conclusions drawn from it should be tentative. Faith schools did favour middle-class families, but they did not damage social cohesion. There needed to be more 'honest' debate about what the evidence said, and faith schools should not be treated as a proxy debate for the wider question of faith and secularism in public life.
Source: Elizabeth Oldfield, Liane Hartnett, and Emma Bailey, More than an Educated Guess: Assessing the evidence on faith schools, Theos
Links: Report | Summary | BHA press release | C of E press release | BBC report
Date: 2013-Sep
A think-tank report said that over the period 2007-2012 the gap in performance between poor white boys and the average for all pupils had widened further. Only 26 per cent of white boys on free school meals had gained 5 'good' GCSE grades (including English and maths) in the previous year, compared with 40 per cent of black boys on free school meals and 63 per cent of all other pupils. The report said that children's backgrounds and families had an enormous impact on educational outcomes. Many factors – parental aspiration, parental education, parental addiction, and income poverty – were likely to occur simultaneously, exacerbating the disadvantages that children faced.
Source: Requires Improvement: The causes of educational failure, Centre for Social Justice
Links: Report | CSJ press release | Action for Children press release | JRF blog post | BBC report | Daily Mail report | Guardian report | Nursery World report
Notes: GCSE = General Certificate of Secondary Education.
Date: 2013-Sep
Campaigners found that the most socio-economically selective state secondary comprehensives in England were 'overwhelmingly dominated' by religiously selective schools – highlighting the segregating effects of faith-based admissions criteria. Of the 100 most selective comprehensives (on the basis of eligibility for free school meals), 69 had admissions criteria that were religiously selective.
Source: Press release 21 September 2013, Fair Admissions Campaign
Links: FAC press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2013-Sep
A special issue of a journal examined the relationship between education and social mobility.
Source: British Journal of Sociology of Education, Volume 34 Issue 5-6
Links: Table of contents
Notes: Articles included:
Phillip Brown, 'Education, opportunity and the prospects for social mobility'
Ann-Marie Bathmaker, Nicola Ingram, and Richard Waller, 'Higher education, social class and the mobilisation of capitals: recognising and playing the game'
Fiona Devine and Yaojun Li, 'The changing relationship between origins, education and destinations in the 1990s and 2000s'
Anna Mountford-Zimdars, Steven Jones, Alice Sullivan, and Anthony Heath, 'Framing higher education: questions and responses in the British Social Attitudes survey, 1983-2010'
Carol Vincent, Stephen Ball, Nicola Rollock, and David Gillborn, 'Three generations of racism: Black middle-class children and schooling'
Date: 2013-Sep
A report said that cuts of £1.5 billion to early intervention funding and a multitude of barriers were stopping many of those families most in need from using children's centres. Many disadvantaged families had very little knowledge of children's centres; a quarter of parents said that they found it difficult to access their local centre because of transport problems; and working parents often struggled to use centres because of their work commitments.
Source: Sam Royston and Laura Rodrigues, Breaking Barriers: How to help children s centres reach disadvantaged families, Children s Society
Links: Report | Childrens Society press release | Nursery World report
Date: 2013-Sep
An article examined the effect of neighbourhood composition on teenagers' educational and behavioural outcomes in England. Changes in neighbourhood composition were found to have no effects on test scores but some effects on behavioural outcomes, which were heterogeneous for boys and girls.
Source: Stephen Gibbons, Olmo Silv, and Felix Weinhardt, 'Everybody needs good neighbours? Evidence from students' outcomes in England', Economic Journal, Volume 123 Number 571
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Sep
A report by an independent commission said the total number of applicants to higher education institutions in England in 2013 had recovered from the depressed level of the previous year, increasing by around 2 per cent. But this remained 5.7 per cent lower than in 2010, before the introduction of the new tuition fee regime. The number of older university applicants had continued to decline. Although there had been some growth in applicants from less privileged neighbourhoods to higher education generally, this growth had been less noticeable in applications to highly selective institutions.
Source: Analysis of University Applications for 2013/2014 Admissions, Independent Commission on Fees
Links: Report | ICF press release | Sutton Trust press release | Guardian report | Times Higher Education report
Date: 2013-Sep
A think-tank report examined whether Sure Start children's centres were being used to their full potential. It said that local authorities needed to make better use of them to close the gap between rich and poor children. They should return children's centres to their original purpose and target their expenditure on more deprived areas, alongside increased financial transparency. The government should consider lowering the cap on parental income eligibility for tax-free childcare, and reinvest the money in time-limited seed funding that local authorities, early years providers or individual children's centres could bid for to raise the quality of childcare in deprived areas. Outcome-based measures should be developed for all children's centres.
Source: Harriet Waldegrave, Centres of Excellence? The role of children s centres in early intervention, Policy Exchange
Links: Report | Policy Exchange press release | Action for Children press release
Date: 2013-Sep
A paper presented an overview of gender differences in education outcomes in developed (OECD) countries. It described the improvement of educational attainment among women in recent decades, and male under-performance. Possible explanatory factors included incentives provided by changing employment opportunities for women, demographic trends, and the higher sensitivity of boys to disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.
Source: Angelica Salvi del Pero and Alexandra Bytchkov, A Bird's Eye View of Gender Differences in Education in OECD Countries, Employment and Migration Working Paper 149, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Sep
A paper examined the causal relationship between education and health outcomes in developed (OECD) countries. There was evidence that more years of education led to better health for a limited number of health markers. There were lower probabilities of reporting poor health, of having limitations in functional status, and of having been diagnosed with diabetes. There was no evidence of a causal effect of education on other health conditions. The relationship between education and cancer was positive, suggesting that education fostered early detection.
Source: Raquel Fonseca and Yuhui Zheng, The Effect of Education on Health: Cross-Country Evidence, Working Paper 13-25, Centre Interuniversitaire sur le Risque, les Politiques Economiques et l'Emploi (Universite du Quebec, Montreal, Canada)
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Sep
A report summarized research evidence (from 2008-2013) on what worked in closing the gap in educational achievement for children and young people living in poverty.
Source: NFER Evidence on Access and Achievement of Children in Poverty in England, National Foundation for Educational Research
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Aug
An article examined the support given to parents of gifted and talented children from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Most of the parents surveyed had good, supportive relationships with their children and had high aspirations for them. But nearly all felt unable to engage with their child s learning in the home, and felt inadequate to help with subject choices and advise on matters relating to higher education. Peer groups were seen as threats to their children s well-being and advancement. Schools were highly rated for relationships: but they offered no specific support to these parents, who seemed to be being forced to go it alone .
Source: Valsa Koshya, Joanna Brown, Deborah Jones, and Carole Portman Smith, 'Exploring the views of parents of high ability children living in relative poverty', Educational Research, Volume 55 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Aug
A new book examined ways of overcoming social disadvantage in the education system. It said that considerable effort and money were being wasted on policies, practices, and interventions that had very little hope of success. The quality of much education research evidence was poor, and users of evidence failed to discriminate between good and bad research. At a time of reduced public spending it was important that proposed interventions were both effective and efficient, and made use of evidence-informed approaches.
Source: Stephen Gorard and Beng See, Overcoming Disadvantage in Education, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Aug
A paper examined gender differences in educational attitudes and aspirations among children aged 11-15, using British Household Panel Survey data. Although girls had more positive aspirations and attitudes than boys, gender impacts varied significantly with parental education level, parental attitudes to education, child's age, and the indirect cost of education. Boys were more responsive than girls to positive parental characteristics, whereas the educational attitudes and aspirations of boys deteriorated at a younger age than those of girls.
Source: Tina Rampino and Mark Taylor, Gender Differences in Educational Aspirations and Attitudes, Working Paper 2013-15, Institute for Social and Economic Research (University of Essex)
Links: Working paper | Abstract
Date: 2013-Aug
An article examined the relationship between the existence of private schools and public attitudes towards questions about educational provision. British Social Attitudes survey data suggested that parents who chose to send children to private schools might become more entrenched in their support for more extensive forms of parental partiality, with potential ramifications for the future support of progressive education policy. Addressing questions about the existence of certain forms of education and school choice policies required consideration of the broader ethical environment.
Source: Sonia Exley and Judith Suissa, 'Private schools, choice and the ethical environment', British Journal of Educational Studies, Volume 61 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Aug
A report said that the average annual back-to-school cost – including uniforms, coats, bags, and stationery – was £156 for a child at primary school and £285 for a child at secondary school. A family with one child at secondary school and one at primary school might therefore spend £441 – nearly 40 per cent of the monthly income of a lone parent on the poverty line, and almost 30 per cent of a couple's. Local authority grants for school uniforms were a 'postcode lottery', with many having scrapped their schemes completely.
Source: The Big Stitch-Up: How school uniform costs are punishing parents, Family Action
Links: Report | Family Action press release | Daily Mail report
Date: 2013-Aug
An article examined the relationship between a father's unemployment and a child's schooling ambitions, using data from the British Household Panel Survey. It was found that the father's unemployment had a causal effect on the child's schooling ambitions.
Source: Signe Hald Andersen, 'Common genes or exogenous shock? Disentangling the causal effect of paternal unemployment on children's schooling efforts', European Sociological Review, Volume 29 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jul
An article examined the fairness of England's new scheme for funding higher education through student fees. It said that the highest-paid graduates paid back less towards the cost of higher education than those on middle incomes: the 'squeezed middle' paid back more than those on both higher and lower incomes. They also contributed more to the costs of widening participation programmes, which all universities charging more than £6,000 per annum were required to fund.
Source: Ron Johnston, 'England's new scheme for funding higher education through student fees: "fair and progressive"?', Political Quarterly, Volume 84 Issue 2
Links: Abstract | Bristol University press release
Date: 2013-Jul
An article examined the experiences of Traveller children in schools. It used data from two studies (one in Scotland and the other in England) to examine Traveller children's views about attending school (particularly in relation to their values and ambitions), their experiences of racism and prejudice, and their views on how teachers perceived them. Despite public policy discourse around citizenship, the reality was one in which Traveller children continued to be viewed as outsiders: they did not enjoy the same rights as other children, and they were not regarded as full citizens in the school environment.
Source: Ross Deuchar and Kalwant Bhopal, '"We re still human beings, we re not aliens": promoting the citizenship rights and cultural diversity of Traveller children in schools: Scottish and English perspectives', British Educational Research Journal, Volume 39 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jul
A paper examined the literature on school structures and school autonomy to identify settings in which alternative and more autonomous school arrangements could improve the educational attainments of pupils in the bottom tail of the achievement distribution. Schools that had converted to academies between 2002 and 2007 had improved their overall GCSE results by further raising the attainment of students in the top half of the ability distribution, and in particular pupils in the top 20 per cent tail: but there was little evidence that academies had helped pupils in the bottom 10 per cent and 20 per cent of the ability distribution.
Source: Stephen Machin and Olmo Silva, School Structure, School Autonomy and the Tail, Special Paper 29, Centre for Economic Performance (London School of Economics)
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Jul
A report presented the findings of an independent evaluation of the pupil premium for schools in England. It said that there was a tension between the criteria used to allocate pupil premium funding and the criteria used by schools to define and respond to educational disadvantage more generally. Schools should be given clearer messages about the distinction between the two, and about whether their targeting of the pupil premium was legitimate. The coalition government said that, from September 2013, the schools inspectorate (Ofsted) would focus more closely on the progress of 'pupil premium pupils' in their inspections, and that it was unlikely that a school would be judged 'outstanding' if its disadvantaged pupils were not making good progress.
Source: Hannah Carpenter, Ivy Papps, Jo Bragg, Alan Dyson, Diane Harris, Kirstin Kerr, Liz Todd, and Karen Laing, Evaluation of Pupil Premium, Research Report 282, Department for Education | Press release 2 July 2013, Department for Education
Links: Report | Brief | DE press release | JRF blog post | NAHT press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Notes: The pupil premium consists of additional funding allocated to schools on the basis of the numbers of children entitled to and registered for free school meals, and of children in long-term care.
Date: 2013-Jul
An article drew on interviews with eight headteachers of less advantaged English primary schools to explore how they understood and articulated the contexts in which their schools operated, and how this knowledge was translated into strategies for organizing curriculum, pedagogy, and other school processes. The headteachers observed context through the lens of the behaviour of parents and children in relation to school, contrasting it with an assumed middle-class normality. More critical perspectives on families' social and economic position or on the contribution of school practice to educational exclusion were largely absent. School responses were many and varied: but, given the constraints of budgets and other pressures, were unlikely to substantially transform the educational experiences and outcomes of disadvantaged students. There was a continuing need for more contextualized funding mechanisms and policies to improve schools in disadvantaged areas; and also, in the light of devolution to schools, a need to develop mechanisms of support for headteachers to help them to develop critical understandings of context.
Source: Ruth Lupton and Martin Thrupp, 'Headteachers readings of and responses to disadvantaged contexts: evidence from English primary schools', British Educational Research Journal, Volume 39 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jul
An article examined intergenerational dynamics among British South Asians regarding education and family life. It investigated the perspectives of grandparents, parents, and young people in order to establish how family attributes and education were perceived by these three groups. It highlighted an emphasis on the acquisition of educational capital for upward social mobility among all groups.
Source: Tehmina Basit, 'Educational capital as a catalyst for upward social mobility amongst British Asians: a three-generational analysis', British Educational Research Journal, Volume 39 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jul
An article compared the effect of two methods of mobilization – doorstep canvassing and postal appeals – on family attendance at early childhood Sure Start centres in England. No evidence was found of a significant difference in attendance between different groups in the trial: neither visits nor leaflets were effective in encouraging non-attenders to go to Sure Start.
Source: Sarah Cotterill, Peter John, and Alice Moseley, 'Does mobilisation increase family engagement with an early childhood intervention programme? A randomised controlled trial', Policy & Politics, Volume 41 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jul
An article reviewed interventions designed to support looked-after children in school. No study was found robust enough to provide evidence on effectiveness: but promising interventions were identified. The review highlighted the lack of evidence in an area that had received a lot of policy attention in recent years. Future evaluations needed to be underpinned by lessons learned from existing evaluations, clearly defined theories and definitions, and by the views of professionals, researchers, policy-makers and young people in care.
Source: Kristin Liabo, Kerry Gray, and David Mulcahy, 'A systematic review of interventions to support looked-after children in school', Child & Family Social Work, Volume 18 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jul
A report by an all-party group of MPs said that action was needed to improve the performance of Sure Start children's centres. It said that children's centres should measure and compare outcomes for the children and families they worked with over the longer term, at least until the point that children started school. Local authorities should monitor the relative performance of children's centres in their area, and share information on best practice.
Source: Best Practice for a Sure Start: The way forward for children's centres, All Party Parliamentary Sure Start Group
Links: Report | Action for Children press release | Voice press release
Date: 2013-Jul
A report said that government policy ignored the role of literacy in tackling inter-generational poverty, and that supporting literacy in disadvantaged communities could reduce the impact of poverty. It recommended: extending the pupil premium to cover children aged 3-4; improving access to literacy resources in deprived areas, through 'pop-up libraries' and literacy shops; and ensuring that all local child poverty strategies included literacy and sought to engage parents and carers in home literacy activities.
Source: Emily McCoy, Lost for Words: Poor literacy, the hidden issue in child poverty, National Literacy Trust
Links: Report | NLT press release
Date: 2013-Jul
A report presented findings from the first wave of detailed fieldwork regarding the organization and delivery of children's centre services. This fieldwork aimed to assess: the range of activities and services that centres delivered; partnership working methods; leadership and management; evidence-based practice; and area profiling of centre 'reach'. Children's centres were increasingly targeting services at disadvantaged families, and broadening their geographical reach.
Source: Jenny Goff, James Hall, Kathy Sylva, Teresa Smith, George Smith, Naomi Eisenstadt, Pam Sammons, Maria Evangelou, Rebecca Smees, and Kityu Chu, Evaluation of Children s Centres in England (ECCE) Strand 3: Delivery of Family Services by Children s Centres, Research Report 297, Department for Education
Links: Report | Brief | Action for Children press release | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2013-Jul
The Scottish Parliament approved a Bill designed to widen access to university, and improve governance and accountability in colleges and universities. Widening access agreements would have legal backing.
Source: Post-16 Education (Scotland) Bill, Scottish Government, TSO | Scottish Parliament Debate 26 June 2013, columns 21691-21722, Official Report, TSO
Links: Bill | Explanatory notes | Policy memorandum | Research briefing | Official Report | Scottish Government press release | SNP press release | UCU press release | BBC report
Date: 2013-Jun
A report (by an official advisory body) said that the proportion of state-educated pupils attending the elite 'Russell Group' universities had declined since 2002, and that the universities had 'a long way to go' to ensure that all potential students had a chance of gaining a place. Universities should make more use of 'contextual data' about student backgrounds in their admissions decisions, and consider incentivizing less advantaged school pupils to apply by offering guaranteed interviews and, where appropriate, lower entry requirements.
Source: Higher Education: The Fair Access Challenge, Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission
Links: Report | OFFA press release | Russell Group press release | Sutton Trust press release | Universities UK press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Public Finance report | Telegraph report
Date: 2013-Jun
The Northern Ireland Executive announced that it had accepted in full the recommendations of an independent review of school funding. It said that it would introduce reforms to focus greater help on schools with a high proportion of pupils from low-income families. An extra £30 million would also be made available for this. There would be an extension to the free school meals eligibility criteria, so that by September 2014 an additional 15,000 children would be entitled to free school meals and support with uniform costs.
Source: Press release 11 June 2013, Northern Ireland Executive
Links: NIE press release | Ministerial statement | BBC report
Notes: Review report (January 2013)
Date: 2013-Jun
A think-tank report examined ways to tackle educational disadvantage in English secondary schools, addressing the issues of: school choice and admissions; school accountability; the teaching profession; fragmentation in the school system; the pupil premium; and tackling disadvantage beyond the school gates. There was a strong relationship between poverty, deprivation, and academic achievement. These gaps in education performance persisted, entrenching wider inequalities in the labour market, housing market, and social structures. Yet schools were facing increasing pressure to spend the pupil premium, aimed at very poor pupils, on plugging holes in their budgets.
Source: Jonathan Clifton (ed.), Excellence and Equity: Tackling educational disadvantage in England s secondary schools, Institute for Public Policy Research
Links: Report | IPPR press release | NAHT press release | BBC report | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Jun
A study found that the introduction of tuition fees in universities had only served to reinforce established admission patterns rather than widen access. Between 1996 and 2010, traditional hierarchies among universities had remained strong. The proportions of students from different social backgrounds had remained static. Privately educated students remained unevenly distributed across universities, especially in England where they had actually increased their concentration in older universities. Similarly, the children of parents from the managerial class were more likely to get a place in older universities.
Source: Linda Croxford and David Raffe, Social and Ethnic Inequalities and Institutional Differences in Entry to UK Higher Education (1996-2010), Centre for Educational Sociology (University of Edinburgh) | Linda Croxford and David Raffe, Participation in Full-Time Higher Education 1996-2010: A 'home international' perspective, Centre for Educational Sociology (University of Edinburgh)
Links: Paper (1) | Paper (2) | Nuffield Foundation press release
Date: 2013-Jun
A report said that the best-performing comprehensive schools and academies in England were significantly more socially selective than the average state school nationally and other schools in their own localities. 95 per cent of the top 500 comprehensives had a smaller proportion of their pupils on free school meals than their local areas. Almost two-thirds (64 per cent) were unrepresentative of their local authority area, with gaps of 5 or more percentage points.
Source: Selective Comprehensives: The social composition of top comprehensive schools, Sutton Trust
Links: Report | Sutton Trust press release | ATL press release | NUT press release | Guardian report | Public Finance report | Telegraph report
Date: 2013-Jun
The inspectorate for education and children's services said that many of the deprived children being left behind in schools in England were to be found in suburbs, market towns, and seaside resorts rather than big cities. Such pupils were often an 'invisible minority' in schools in relatively affluent areas that were rated good or outstanding. The inspectorate called for a new team of 'national service teachers' – employed by central government – to teach in schools in parts of the country that were failing their most disadvantaged pupils.
Source: Unseen Children: Access and achievement 20 years on – Evidence report, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills
Links: Report | Speech | OFSTED press release | Action for Children press release | Labour Party press release | NAHT press release | NASUWT press release | NCB press release | NUT press release | Sutton Trust press release | BBC report | Daily Mail report | Guardian report | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Jun
A report said that postgraduate education was becoming increasingly exclusive, amid rising tuition fees and cuts in research and funding council support. It called on the government to implement a loans scheme for postgraduate taught courses. It also urged universities to expand their endowment capacity, and access financial markets to enable postgraduate students to draw loans.
Source: Tom Frostick and Tom Gault (eds), Postgraduate Education: Better Funding and Better Access, CentreForum
Links: Report | CentreForum press release | BBC report | Telegraph report
Date: 2013-Jun
A paper examined the theoretical basis of research into inter-generational social mobility and its mediation via education. It said that sociologists could usefully draw on theories originating in the economics of labour markets and, in particular, three theories in some degree deviating from mainstream human capital theory: screening and signalling theory; job competition theory; and incentive-enhancing preference theory.
Source: John Goldthorpe, The Role of Education in Intergenerational Social Mobility: Problems from empirical research in sociology and some theoretical pointers from economics, Barnett Papers in Social Research 13/02, Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Jun
A report presented the findings of the first year of an independent evaluation of the 16-19 Bursary Fund. Just two-thirds of providers (68 per cent) thought that the Bursary Fund was effective in targeting young people with the greatest barriers to participation in education or training.
Source: Meg Callanan, Julia Griggs, Cheryl Lloyd, Sarah Kitchen, and Ivonne Wollny, Evaluation of the 16-19 Bursary Fund: Year 1 Report, Research Report 265, Department for Education
Links: Report | Brief | DE press release
Notes: The 16-19 Bursary Fund (introduced in September 2011) provides financial support to young people who face significant financial barriers to participation in education or training post 16. It replaced the former education maintenance allowance.
Date: 2013-May
An article examined the extent of fair access to prestigious Russell Group universities. Access was found to be far from fair, and little had changed following the introduction of tuition fees in 1998 and their initial increase to £3,000 per year in 2006. Throughout this period, applicants from lower-class backgrounds and from state schools remained much less likely to apply to Russell Group universities than their comparably qualified counterparts from higher-class backgrounds and private schools. Applicants from state schools and from Black and Asian ethnic backgrounds remained much less likely to receive offers of admission in comparison with their equivalently qualified peers from private schools and the white ethnic group.
Source: Vikki Boliver, 'How fair is access to more prestigious UK universities?', British Journal of Sociology, Volume 64 Issue 2
Links: Abstract | Durham University press release | DE press release | Russell Group press release | BBC report | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2013-May
An article examined the approaches taken under the New Deal for Communities (NDC) Programme in England (1998–2010) to improving educational outcomes. Education had seen the least change of all six outcomes adopted by the NDC Programme. Uniquely, extra spending on education had been associated with less change. Spending might have been better directed at supporting younger children and their parents, combined with targeted out-of -school programmes of support for specific NDC cohorts.
Source: Elaine Batty, 'Addressing educational disadvantage in deprived communities: evidence from the New Deal for Communities Programme in England', Urban Studies, Volume 50 Number 8
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-May
An article examined education systems in European Union countries (and the United States of America), focusing on institutional features that were associated with inequality of educational opportunity.
Source: Anne West and Rita Nikolai, 'Welfare regimes and education regimes: equality of opportunity and expenditure in the EU (and US)', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 42 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-May
An article reported a survey of sixth-form students in England on participation decisions relating to higher education. The results suggested that financial issues were key influences: the English higher education system might be confronted with significant changes in student choice patterns, given the finding that students showed high levels of anxiety and consequently considered a much broader range of study options – within or outside higher education; in publicly funded or for-profit institutions; and in the United Kingdom or elsewhere.
Source: Stephen Wilkins, Farshid Shams, and Jeroen Huisman, 'The decision-making and changing behavioural dynamics of potential higher education students: the impacts of increasing tuition fees in England', Educational Studies, Volume 39 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-May
An article used data from the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England to examine the relationship between social background, educational attainment, and university participation. Differences in school-level attainment associated with social background were by far the most important explanation for social background differences in university attendance. Early intentions for higher education participation were highly predictive of actual participation. There might be some scope for universities to act to improve participation by people from less advantaged backgrounds: but a much more important focus of action was on improving the school-level achievement of these students.
Source: Paul Croll and Gaynor Attwood, 'Participation in higher education: aspirations, attainment and social background', British Journal of Educational Studies, Volume 61 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-May
A report said that schools could not work alone to disrupt inter-generational cycles of deprivation and tackle educational disadvantage in Europe. A combination of factors beyond schools limited educational opportunities and life-chances. This meant that cross-sector strategies were required, to link what schools could do with what other sectors such as employment, health, finance, justice, housing, youth, and welfare could offer.
Source: Anne Edwards and Paul Downes, Alliances for Inclusion: Cross-sector policy synergies and interprofessional collaboration in and around schools, Network of Experts on Social aspects of Education and Training (European Commission)
Links: Report | NESET press release | European Commission press release
Date: 2013-May
The report of an independent commission said that the gap between working-class boys and girls going to university widened in the first year of the new tuition fees regime in England. In the 40 per cent of English neighbourhoods where university participation was lowest, 5.4 per cent fewer boys aged 19 and under had been accepted for places in 2012 than in 2011, compared with a 3.7 per cent fall among women.
Source: Analysis of UCAS Acceptances for 2012/2013 Admissions, Independent Commission on Fees
Links: Report | Commission press release | Sutton Trust press release | UCU press release | Guardian report
Date: 2013-Apr
An article used concepts of social segregation to analyze data on the social and demographic characteristics of entrants to higher education. Levels of segregation were relatively high in relation to ethnicity and private schooling, lower in relation to age, and lowest in relation to gender, disability, and social class. Over time there had been a decline in the segregation of non-white ethnic groups and a small increase in segregation of private school students. Levels of segregation differed across the four United Kingdom countries, and tended to be highest in England.
Source: Linda Croxford and David Raffeo, 'Differentiation and social segregation of UK higher education, 1996-2010', Oxford Review of Education, Volume 39 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Apr
A paper said that there was no evidence that very deprived neighbourhoods, characterized by a high density of social housing, had an effect on the educational attainment of school children (aged 14) in England.
Source: Felix Weinhardt, Neighborhood Quality and Student Performance, Discussion Paper 7139, Institute for the Study of Labor (Bonn)
Links: Paper | Daily Mail report
Date: 2013-Apr
A report provided findings from a survey of families who were using Sure Start children's centres when their child was 9-18 months of age (as part of a larger evaluation of children's centres in England). Satisfaction with services and activities was generally very high: just under half of parents (49 per cent) said that they were 'very satisfied' and a further 29 per cent said that they were 'fairly satisfied'. For each of the 22 service categories, the majority of users considered them to be 'very helpful'; and the proportion of users who rated them as 'very' or 'fairly helpful' ranged from 88 per cent to 100 per cent.
Source: Ruth Maisey, Svetlana Speight, and Sarah Haywood, with James Hall, Pamela Sammons, David Hussey, Jenny Goff, Maria Evangelou, and Kathy Sylva, Evaluation of Children s Centres in England (ECCE) Strand 2: Baseline Survey of Families Using Children s Centres in the Most Disadvantaged Areas, Research Report 260, Department for Education
Date: 2013-Apr
A study highlighted 'potentially worrying inequalities' in access to postgraduate degrees. Women progressed to a higher degree at a lower rate than men, even when accounting for differences in attainment and subject choice. Some minority-ethnic groups had very low rates of progression, and there were inequalities between graduates of different social class backgrounds. There were also 'stark differences' in progression to higher degrees across different types of university.
Source: Paul Wakeling and Gillian Hampden-Thompson, Transition to Higher Degrees Across the UK: An analysis of national, institutional and individual differences, Higher Education Academy
Links: Report | HEA press release | York University press release
Date: 2013-Apr
An article examined the transitions made by pupils between state-funded primary and secondary schools in London in 2008, with a view to establishing which secondary schools recruited from the same feeder primary schools and which might be said to be competing. Evidence was found of higher- and lower-attaining pupils separating from one another, with the former more likely to be enrolled in selective schools and also some types of faith school. The separations were evident between locally competing schools, but with no evidence that they had been worsening over the period 2003 2008. This highlighted the paradox of promoting school choice within a system that imposed geographical constraints upon it, and that might simply reinforce existing social divisions.
Source: Richard Harris, 'Geographies of transition and the separation of lower and higher attaining pupils in the move from primary to secondary school in London', Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Volume 38 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Mar
A report examined the impact of the 2012 changes to higher education funding in England. Student demand appeared to be recovering after an initial fall: but there were sharp drops in recruitment to part-time courses, and a related decline in mature entrants. Positive trends in widening participation appeared to have been sustained following the reforms: but disparities in the recruitment and retention of students by social background and gender remained 'unacceptably stark'.
Source: Higher Education in England: Impact of the 2012 Reforms, Higher Education Funding Council for England
Links: Report | HEFCE press release | AOC press release | Million+ press release | NIACE press release | 1994 Group press release | UCU press release
Date: 2013-Mar
A study found that there was a strong commitment and passion for widening participation on the part of higher education bodies in England, and a widespread perception among them that progress had been made in access, retention, and disability provision: but there was still a lack of evidence on its outcomes and impact.
Source: Lindsey Bowes, Stephen Jones, Liz Thomas, Rachel Moreton, Guy Birkin, and Tej Nathwani, The Uses and Impact of HEFCE Funding for Widening Participation, Higher Education Funding Council for England
Links: Report | Summary | Edge Hill University press release
Date: 2013-Mar
An article examined the relative influence of family and neighbourhood on pupils' test scores in England, and how this varied by sibling type. The neighbourhood explained at most 10-15 per cent of the variance in pupils' test scores, whereas the family explained 44-54 per cent at the end of primary school and 47-61 per cent at the end of compulsory schooling. The family influence was significantly higher for identical twins. It was also higher for dizygotic twins than for non-twin siblings brought up at different times and therefore experiencing varying family circumstances.
Source: Cheti Nicoletti and Birgitta Rabe, 'Inequality in pupils' test scores: how much do family, sibling type and neighbourhood matter?', Economica, Volume 80 Issue 318
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Mar
A paper examined how the quality of formal early childhood education and care in England was associated with children's background. Children from a disadvantaged background had access to better-qualified staff: but services catering for more disadvantaged children were more segregated and receive lower ratings from the national inspectorate.
Source: Ludovica Gambaro, Kitty Stewart, and Jane Waldfogel, A Question of Quality: Do children from disadvantaged backgrounds receive lower quality early years education and care in England?, CASEpaper 117, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion (London School of Economics)
Date: 2013-Mar
The report of an independent commission said that education reforms over 50 years had failed to make a significant improvement to the exam results of children in Scotland from disadvantaged backgrounds. Among the reforms were raising the school leaving age, the launch of standard grade exams, and comprehensive schools. Scottish schools performed well overall, being consistently in the top quarter of countries for education results: but the trend had been generally downward, and Scotland was being overtaken.
Source: By Diverse Means: Improving Scottish education, Commission on School Reform (Reform Scotland/Centre for Scottish Public Policy)
Links: Report | BBC report | Open Democracy blog post | Scotsman report
Date: 2013-Mar
An article examined how teachers' understandings of diversity and difference and their pedagogical responses at the local level were influenced by, and could be reconciled with, policy at the general level with its impulse for categorization, normalcy, and 'ableness'.
Source: Hazel Lawson, Ruth Boyask, and Sue Waite, 'Construction of difference and diversity within policy and practice in England', Cambridge Journal of Education, Volume 43 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Mar
An article examined policy and practice in relation to the education of looked-after children in Scotland. There was evidence of considerable infrastructural development, both in the looked-after children sector and more widely in education services. There was also evidence of improvement in outcomes, notably in school attendance and the attainment of children in out-of-home care. Although outcomes generally still lagged behind those of children who were not looked after, those of children who were looked after while remaining in the family home remained relatively resistant to improvement.
Source: Graham Connelly and Judy Furnivall, 'Addressing low attainment of children in public care: the Scottish experience', European Journal of Social Work, Volume 16 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Mar
An article examined whether the concept of social capital was helpful in explaining the educational underachievement of looked-after children. The educational attainments of children did reflect key factors in their backgrounds before entry to care: but their characteristics also led them to be placed in specific placements that had differing abilities for promoting social capital.
Source: Michele McClung and Vernon Gayle, 'Social capital as a mechanism for exploring the low educational achievements of looked after children', Journal of Children's Services, Volume 8 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Mar
Universities needed to reach out to children in primary schools if they wanted to increase the number of people from disadvantaged backgrounds benefiting from higher education, according to an interim report on promoting fair access.
Source: National Strategy for Access and Student Success: Interim Report, Higher Education Funding Council for England/Office for Fair Access
Links: Report | HEFCE press release | DBIS press release | Open University press release | WEA press release
Date: 2013-Mar
A report said that Welsh education policy should emphasize parental involvement, extra-curricular activities, and mentoring in order to tackle educational inequalities.
Source: David Egan, Poverty and Low Educational Achievement in Wales: Student, family and community interventions, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Links: Report | Summary | Bevan Foundation blog post
Date: 2013-Feb
A report said that a surge in the number of people taking postgraduate qualifications was making it harder for young people who simply had primary degrees to compete in the professional labour market. Graduates from low- and middle-income backgrounds were increasingly priced out of postgraduate study, with the result that these changes could widen income differentials and reduce opportunities for social mobility.
Source: Stephen Machin and Joanne Lindley, The Postgraduate Premium: Revisiting trends in social mobility and educational inequalities in Britain and America, Sutton Trust
Links: Report | Sutton Trust press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2013-Feb
A new book examined the impact of changing assessment policy on primary school classrooms, with a particular focus on issues of inequality. Drawing on accounts of life in early years classrooms, it said that a specific model of the good learner operated, and that this model worked to exclude some groups of students from positions of educational success.
Source: Alice Bradbury, Understanding Early Years Inequality: Policy, assessment and young children's identities, Routledge
Links: Summary
Date: 2013-Feb
An article examined students' perceptions of the impact of bursaries on their higher education decisions and choices. Most students did not think that their choices were affected by bursaries. The reconfiguration of institutional aid from 2012-13 might overcome some perceived barriers to the effectiveness of financial support: but it was likely to exacerbate others, and create new impediments and inequalities.
Source: Claire Callender and David Wilkinson, 'Student perceptions of the impact of bursaries and institutional aid on their higher education choices and the implications for the National Scholarship Programme in England', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 42 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Feb
A survey found that disabled children in England and Wales were being routinely illegally excluded from school. More than half of the families surveyed had been asked to collect their child during the school day because there were not enough staff available to support them more, or had been told by the school that their child could not take part in a class activity or trip because it was unsuitable for them.
Source: Falling Through the Net: Illegal exclusions, the experiences of families with disabled children in England and Wales (2013), Contact a Family
Links: Report | CAF press release | Guardian report | Nursery World report
Date: 2013-Feb
An article examined how a small sample of working-class mothers encountered the field of education. In the management of family and their children's schooling, mothers brought to bear and replicated ways of knowing that were embodied, historical, and offered many-sided insights into profoundly stratified societies.
Source: Mary O'Donoghue, 'Putting working-class mothers in their place: social stratification, the field of education, and Pierre Bourdieu's theory of practice', British Journal of Sociology of Education, Volume 34 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Feb
The inspectorate for education and children's services said that a growing number of schools in England were using their pupil premium funding effectively: but a significant minority were still struggling to show how the money was making any meaningful impact in terms of narrowing the attainment gap between pupils from low-income and more affluent families.
Source: The Pupil Premium: How schools are spending the funding successfully to maximise achievement, HMI 130016, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills
Links: Report | OFSTED press release | ASCL press release | Barnardos press release | NUT press release | BBC report | Public Finance report | Telegraph report
Date: 2013-Feb
A report said that almost 1 in every 5 students in developed (OECD) countries did not reach a basic minimum level of skills. In addition, students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds were twice as likely to be low performers. Lack of fairness and inclusion could lead to school failure, and this meant that 1 in every 5 young adults on average dropped out before completing upper secondary education. The highest-performing education systems across OECD countries combined quality with equity.
Source: Equity and Quality in Education: Supporting disadvantaged students and schools, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Links: Report | Summary | NUT press release | BBC report | Daily Mail report
Date: 2013-Feb
A report said that the efforts made by schools and policy-makers in England to 'raise aspirations' in order to increase achievement among disadvantaged pupils was based on false assumptions about low aspirations. The real challenge for disadvantaged young people was how to achieve the aspirations they had.
Source: Loic Menzies, Educational Aspirations: How English schools can work with parents to keep them on track, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Date: 2013-Jan
A paper examined differences between the United Kingdom and Sweden in the association between parental income and certain education and health/developmental outcomes.
Source: Anders Bjorklund Markus and Jantti Martin Nybom, The Role of Parental Income over the Life Cycle: A comparison of Sweden and the UK, Discussion Paper 7066, Institute for the Study of Labor (Bonn)
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Jan
A paper examined the intergenerational effects of parents' education on their children's educational outcomes. It was found that increasing parental education had a positive causal effect on children's outcomes that was evident at age 4 and continued to be visible up to and including the exams taken at age 16. Children gained from the raising of the school leaving age, particularly among those of lower-educated parents.
Source: Matt Dickson, Paul Gregg, and Harriet Robinson, Early, Late or Never? When does parental education impact child outcomes?, Working Paper 13/298, Centre for Market and Public Organisation (University of Bristol)
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Jan
A paper examined the extent to which educational systems fostered or constrained social mobility in European countries. Increasing rates of social mobility were found: but the erosion of the education-occupation linkage presented a threat to this trend. Considering formal credentials only, the most equalitarian educational systems were to be found in the United Kingdom and Ireland: but their ability to allocate individuals in the occupational structure was lower than in the other countries.
Source: Pedro Abrantes and Manuel Abrantes, What is the Impact of Educational Systems on Social Mobility across Europe? A comparative approach, Working Paper 1/2012, Socio-Economics Research Centre at the School of Economics and Management (Technical University of Lisbon)
Links: Paper
Date: 2013-Jan
A study examined the GCSE attainment of students eligible for free school meals (the indicator used to determine the pupil premium). There were significant variations in attainment among different cohorts of FSM students, according to factors such as special needs, ethnicity, and geography. More could be done to target the pupil premium where it was most needed.
Source: Charlie Ogilvie, Seeing in Colour: Insights on educational disadvantage from government data, Association of School and College Leaders
Links: Report | ASCL press release | Public Finance report
Date: 2013-Jan
The report of an independent commission said that academy schools and free schools in England should be forced to publish comprehensive data on the family background and parental income of all children applying and winning places. The official admissions watchdog should be required to intervene at schools where there was a 'lack of parity' between the numbers of pupils from low-income and high-income households. There was evidence of academy schools using covert methods to ensure that children from middle-class backgrounds got favourable treatment in the admission process.
Source: Unleashing Greatness: Getting the best from an academised system, Academy Commission
Links: Report | Pearson press release | Accord Coalition press release | ADCS press release | Anti Academies Alliance press release | ASCL press release | ATL press release | IOE press release | Labour Party press release | NASUWT press release | NUT press release | SSAT press release | BBC report | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3) | New Statesman report | Public Finance report | Telegraph report | UnionNews report
Date: 2013-Jan
An article examined the determinants of participation in higher education (HE) among individuals from low socio-economic backgrounds. Although there were large differences in participation rates, these differences were substantially reduced once prior achievement was included. This suggested that poor achievement in secondary schools was more important in explaining lower participation rates among pupils from low socio-economic backgrounds than barriers arising at the point of entry to HE. There was a need for earlier policy intervention to raise HE participation rates among pupils from low socio-economic backgrounds.
Source: Haroon Chowdry, Claire Crawford, Lorraine Dearden, Alissa Goodman, and Anna Vignoles, 'Widening participation in higher education: analysis using linked administrative data', Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A, Volume 176 Issue 2
Links: Article
Date: 2013-Jan
