Secondary school admissions in England 2001-2008: Changing legislation, policy and practice Professor Anne West Education Research Group, Department of Social Policy London School of Economics & Political Science TUC Future for Schools Conference 27 November 2010
Issues to address Why are admissions important? Legal and policy context How have admissions criteria changed? Continuing challenges
Legal and policy context Legislation and guidance School Standards and Framework Act 1998 Admissions Codes
Research methods Admissions criteria coded for state funded secondary schools in England Year 7 admissions 2001 and 2008 Focus on non-grammar schools
Criteria affecting school mix Some criteria are explicitly designed to affect school mix Selection of proportion of pupils by aptitude/ ability (5% in 2008) Random selection/lottery (6%) Banding (3%)
Impact on school composition? Recent research on admissions and school composition (Allen, Coldron and West, 2010) Changes have been observed Role played by admissions criteria difficult to disentangle
Continuing challenges Legislation, School Admissions Code and Schools Adjudicators’ determinations important Difficulties remain Complexity School autonomy Changes in Code Academies and free schools