Modifying school choice for more equitable outcomes in England

This project will examine inequality in educational outcomes resulting from the English school admissions process.

The school admissions process in England is based on a system of school choice. High-performing schools are typically over-subscribed and so schools routinely ration places by distance and/or catchment areas. As such, the housing market plays an important role in determining access to particular schools. Access to high performing schools has a strong influence over an individual’s educational and longer-term outcomes. Therefore, the priorities a school uses to determine attendance can have the unintended consequence of perpetuating inequality.

The research team will be taking a unique approach to examining this system. The first element of the research will examine novel data on school admissions priorities. This will help reveal whether the current system reduces or exacerbates educational inequalities. The data will allow for analysis into alternative admissions priorities at a nationwide scale; this has historically only been possible for individual cities. The second element to the research will account for the role residential choice plays in school admissions. Research to date has not adequately considered the impact of parental housing choices which means that our current understanding of the consequences of school choice and parental preference is incomplete.

Completion of the research will help the project team achieve four key outcomes:

1. Increasing our understanding of inequalities in access to high-performing schools because of geography-based admissions priorities.
2. Strengthening and extending research into educational inequality and school choice.
3. Highlighting inequalities in school access to policymakers, practitioners, and the public.
4. Providing the research base for the implementation of feasible reform options at school, local and national level.

The communications plan is designed to maximise impact among three stakeholder groups: organisations relevant to school admissions, education policy think tanks and advocacy organisations, and international scientific audiences focusing on the economics of education and in market design. The planned outputs are three policy and practice reports, two scientific papers, and an informative guide for schools. Information will be provided directly to Parliament, and leading policy and practice stakeholders will be engaged through a policy-focussed workshop. Articles will be placed in newspapers, sector outlets, and popular blogs to communicate the findings more widely.