A report provided examples of how admission forums and local authorities had responded to recent changes in the law relating to secondary school admissions. Most schools complied with the admissions code, and admissions procedures were followed in accordance with the rules. However, some evidence was reported of rules being broken, for example in the use of waiting lists. In addition some practices were described that, although they might not break the school admissions code, would be unlikely to be encouraged by policymakers. In addition to the requirements that arrangements were 'clear', 'objective', and 'procedurally fair', the arrangements also needed to be co-ordinated with the arrangements for other schools in the area.
Source: Philip Noden and Anne West, Secondary School Admissions in England: Admission Forums, local authorities and schools, Research and Information on State Education Trust
Links: Report | Summary | NASUWT press release | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2009-Dec
An article examined the assumption that 'choice' and 'voice' complemented each other in creating user-driven incentives to increase quality for all consumers in the context of education in England. In the existing system, choice and voice might complement each other for only a subset of consumers.
Source: Deborah Wilson, 'Exit, voice and quality in the English education sector', Social Policy and Administration, Volume 43 Number 6
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Dec
Researchers examined what parents wanted from schools and whether different types of parents had similar preferences. More educated and higher socio-economic status (SES) parents were more likely to cite academic standards, whereas less educated and lower SES parents were more likely to cite proximity. More advantaged parents also chose schools with much lower proportions of pupils eligible for free school meals: although parents did not admit to choosing schools on the basis of their social composition, this is what happened in practice.
Source: Simon Burgess, Ellen Greaves, Anna Vignoles and Deborah Wilson, Parental Choice of Primary School in England: What 'type' of school do parents choose?, Working Paper 09/224, Centre for Market and Public Organisation/University of Bristol (0117 954 6943)
Links: Working paper | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Nov
The Chief School Adjudicator said that 'additional disincentives' were required in order to deter fraudulent and misleading applications for school places in England.
Source: Report to the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families on Fraudulent or Misleading Applications for Admission to Schools, Office of the Schools Adjudicator (0870 001 2468)
Links: Report | DCSF press release | ATL press release | Telegraph report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Nov
A report made policy recommendations designed to address educational disadvantage, drawing on teachers' experiences in some of the most challenging schools. It called for: a new system of school accountability, under which overall grades would be removed from school report cards, and schools would be required to report their success with pupils taking academic and vocational routes separately; locally led plans to enhance the 'unsatisfactory' support for vocational aspirations; locally agreed admissions policies to help all schools achieve a balanced social intake; and an end to 'setting' by ability.
Source: Lessons from the Front 2009, Teach First
Links: Report | NASUWT press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2009-Nov
A report said that when schools and housing providers worked together closely they could achieve better educational performance, improve behaviour, and boost the reputation of neighbourhoods.
Source: John Thornhill and Joanne Kent-Smith, Housing, Schools and Communities, Chartered Institute of Housing (024 7685 1700)
Links: Report | CIH press release | NASUWT press release
Date: 2009-Nov
A new book examined the main ideas in a range of key texts on schooling produced during 1960-1980. It considered the extent to which these critiques had an effect on improving the nature of schooling, and concluded that in the main they did not. Schools remained 'authoritarian and even violent and dangerous' institutions.
Source: Clive Harber, Toxic Schooling: How Schools became Worse, Educational Heretics Press
Links: Summary | Birmingham University press release
Date: 2009-Nov
The Scottish Government announced plans to introduce a legal maximum class size of 25 (instead of 30) in the first year of primary school, from the start of the 2010-11 school year.
Source: Press release 23 September 2009, Scottish Government (0131 556 8400)
Links: SG press release | SNP press release | NASUWT press release | Voice press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Sep
A study examined the collaborative arrangements that small rural primary schools could employ, and the associated benefits and challenges.
Source: Penny Todman, John Harris, John Carter and Jacqueline McCamphill, Better Together: Exploratory case studies of formal collaborations between small rural primary schools, Research Report RR162, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2009-Sep
Researchers examined the impact of the role of the 'virtual school head' in 11 pilot local authorities in improving the educational achievement of looked-after children. Over the period of the pilots, the authorities performed well compared with the national average and most showed improvement in exam results. (The virtual school head acts as a local authority co-ordinator and champion to bring about improvements in the education of looked-after children.)
Source: David Berridge, Lorna Henry, Sonia Jackson and Danielle Turney, Looked After and Learning: Evaluation of the virtual school head pilot, Research Report RR144, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | Brief | Community Care report
Date: 2009-Aug
A think-tank report said that the functions of a variety of education quangos could either be abolished, transferred to the Department for Children, Schools and Families, or moved out of state control. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority should be abolished, leaving schools free to develop their own curriculum. The schools inspectorate (Ofsted) should focus exclusively on inspecting failing schools. Overall, the measures could save £633 million; liberate schools from much of the 'stifling central control' that was undermining initiative; reduce the 'bureaucratic burden' on headteachers and teachers; and make the teaching profession more attractive to talented graduates.
Source: Tom Burkard and Sam Talbot Rice, School Quangos: A blueprint for reform and abolition, Centre for Policy Studies (020 7222 4488)
Links: Report | CPS press release | BBC report | Telegraph report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Aug
The report was published of a government-commissioned review of elective home education in England. The report recommended that local authorities should provide more support to home-educating families. But it also called for a compulsory annual registration scheme, under which all parents who planned to home educate would have to inform their local authority. At the time of registration, parents would be asked to submit a statement of their intended approach to the child's education. Properly trained local authority officials would have a right of access to the home, following a minimum two-week notification to the parents. Local authorities would be able to refuse registration to home educate if there was clear evidence of safeguarding concerns. The government said that it accepted all the recommendations in the report, and began consultation on arrangements for implementing them.
Source: Graham Badman, Report to the Secretary of State on the Review of Elective Home Education in England, HC 610, Department for Children, Schools and Families, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Letter | Hansard | DCSF press release | Consultation document | ADCS press release | Voice press release | Telegraph report | Community Care report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Jun
A report said that students in English secondary schools that had been modernized using the private finance initiative scheme (PFI) achieved improved results more quickly than schools that had been rebuilt traditionally.
Source: PFI in School Building: Does it influence educational outcomes?, KPMG (020 7311 1000)
Links: Report | KPMG press release
Date: 2009-May
An article examined the controversy over choice in the English secondary school system. Opponents of choice had been influenced by concerns over the supposed negative effect that consumer choice had on the equity and quality of service provision. But school choice could, in principle, form part of a socially progressive educational project by redistributing power to service users and helping to maintain popular support for public provision of education.
Source: Mark Goodwin, 'Choice in public services: crying "wolf" in the school choice debate', Political Quarterly, Volume 80 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2009-Apr
A report examined secondary schools' admissions criteria and practices in England in light of the new legislative and regulatory context. Most admissions criteria and practices were found to be broadly in line with the school admissions code (2007), although a minority of schools had criteria that could not be considered clear or objective. However, the admissions process was unduly complex for voluntary aided schools: there could be a high number of criteria relating to religion and religious practice, creating difficulties for parents/carers and allowing scope for discretion in many cases. The government announced that it had ordered a review of the system, with a report due in September 2009.
Source: Anne West, Eleanor Barham and Audrey Hind, Secondary School Admissions in England: Policy and practice, Research and Information on State Education Trust (libby.goldby@risetrust.org.uk) | Press release 2 March 2009, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0870 000 2288)
Links: Report | Summary | DCSF press release | BBC report | Telegraph report
Date: 2009-Mar
A think-tank report set out a blueprint for creating real school choice, drawing lessons from the introduction of school choice reforms in Sweden and the United States of America. Successful reform would mean combining elements from each system and building on the academies programme. There was strong evidence that allowing independent providers into the state education system and giving schools greater freedoms 'dramatically raised' educational standards.
Source: Daisy Meyland-Smith and Natalie Evans, A Guide to School Choice Reforms, Policy Exchange (020 7340 2650)
Links: Report | Policy Exchange press release | Telegraph report | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2009-Mar
A new book examined ways in which schools could work with parents and the wider community to raise the standards of achievement for all their pupils.
Source: Cyril Taylor, A Good School for Every Child: How to improve our schools, Routledge (01264 343071)
Links: Summary | Telegraph report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Feb
A survey of schools, parents, and pupils examined the provision, usage, and perceptions of extended schools services. Nearly all schools (94 per cent) offered activities and/or childcare either at or through the school. Pupils from more deprived backgrounds were less likely than average to be using activities and childcare services.
Source: Emma Wallace et al., Extended Schools Survey of Schools, Pupils and Parents: A quantitative study of perceptions and usage of extended services in schools, Research Report RR068, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | Brief | DCSF press release
Date: 2009-Jan
A report examined whether specialist science schools had increased pupil participation or performance in physics. Specialist schools were found to add more value than non-specialist schools: but since adding value was part of the approval process they would have been the more effective schools in the first place. The specialist schools policy had proved useful as a general programme for 'freshening up a tired comprehensive system', but the government urgently needed to find ways of bringing together what had become a diverse collection of schools into a secondary education system with shape and coherence.
Source: Alan Smithers and Pamela Robinson, Specialist Science Schools, Centre for Education and Employment Research/University of Buckingham (01280 820338)
Links: Report | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Jan
The second independent evaluation was published of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. It said that the programme had 'gathered momentum' in the previous year, and that there had been 'significant progress' in improving its efficiency. Most of the headteachers involved thought that BSF was key to improving results, and expected it to improve teaching – as well as giving parents, students, and local communities access to wider services.
Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Evaluation of Building Schools for the Future: 2nd Annual Report, Department for Children, Schools and Families (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | DCSF press release | TSN press release | Guardian report
Date: 2009-Jan
