School admissions policies are driving high levels of socioeconomic segregation in England and require “urgent” change, the government has been warned.
Many comprehensive schools admit far lower proportions of disadvantaged pupils than live in their catchment area, according to a report published today by social mobility charity the Sutton Trust.
This, the report finds, can result in high levels of socioeconomic segregation, defined by the charity as disadvantaged pupils within a local authority attending one set of schools while non-disadvantaged pupils attend a different set.
Such segregation is associated with bigger attainment gaps, the research finds.
It also “leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy of middle-class parents and more experienced teachers being attracted to higher-performing schools with less challenging intakes”.
Changing school admissions policies
The charity says schools should be required to prioritise pupil premium applicants in their admissions criteria, which would require a change to the admissions code.
It says the link between social segregation and attainment gaps “highlights the urgency of the need for change”.
“To achieve more broad-based change, there needs to be national action,” the report adds.
Previous research by the charity revealed that the top performing schools, ranked by pupil progress, had average free school meal (FSM) rates almost five percentage points lower than the typical school, and 4.3 percentage points lower than their catchment.
More than 150 comprehensive secondary schools in England are more “socially selective” than the average grammar school, it found.
Today’s report urges the government to give local authorities the power to take into account socioeconomic inclusion when it comes to admissions policies, in order to tackle school segregation and ensure that “the needs of local communities are considered and met by the schools that serve them”.
The new Labour government has pledged more power over school admissions for local authorities.
It says it wants to ensure that admissions decisions account for the needs of communities, and that schools cooperate with local authorities on admissions, the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, and place planning.
Segregation highest in North East
The Sutton Trust found that comprehensives in the North East have the highest levels of socioeconomic segregation in England overall.
In the most segregated local authority in England - Solihull in the West Midlands - the report claims that “you would need to redistribute a third (32 per cent) of pupils across schools in order to achieve an even spread of disadvantaged pupils”.
This compares with the least segregated area, Torbay in Devon, where just 6 per cent of pupils would need to be redistributed.
Meanwhile, the research reveals that academy converters are one of the most socially selective types of setting, while sponsored academies “tend to take much higher levels of FSM than live in their catchment areas”.
Local authority maintained schools have mixed levels, while voluntary aided schools - mostly faith schools - are “highly socially selective,” the report adds.
Reform of ‘accountability mechanisms’
The Sutton Trust says that, in addition to changes to the school admissions code and a roll-out of powers for local authorities, a “reform of accountability mechanisms is also needed”, due to the current system “discouraging inclusion”.
“Ofsted inspections should include an element recognising fair admissions and inclusion of the local community, and schools doing excellent jobs with disadvantaged intakes should be celebrated more,” the charity says.
In Ofsted’s response to feedback in its Big Listen consultation, the inspectorate said that a new inspection framework would bring more scrutiny over how inclusive schools are.
The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.
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