Russell Haggar

Site Owner

Parts List

Part One: Some Introductory Links Followed By Early Investigations - Click Here
Part Two: Some More Recent Investigations - Click Here
Part Three: School Effectiveness Research - Click Here
Part Four: Secondary School Choice
Part Five: Summary and Conclusions - Click Here

Social Class Differences in Educational Achievement [2] : The Schools

Part 4

Secondary School Choice

According to the Conservative Governments of 1979-97, increased educational efficiency could be generated via the creation of a so-called quasi-market in education involving increasing parental choice among different schools would lead to the expansion of “good” schools at the expense of “bad” schools which would lead to overall improvements in national educational standard. Therefore, to facilitate the quasi- marketisation of education Conservative Governments [1979-97] introduced a wide range of education policies between 1979 and 1997 especially in the Education Reform Act of 1988...

The process of quasi-marketisation contains the following inter-related elements

1. Increased diversity of secondary schools enables parents to make a choice among a wider range of secondary schools rather than being obliged in most cases to opt for the local Comprehensive school organised and controlled by the Local Education Authority.
2. All State Schools were be obliged to follow the National Curriculum which would mean that that all state school pupils would be assessed on the basis of similar examinations.
3. Schools would be obliged to publish their examination results and OFSTED would also publish their inspection reports on individual schools which would include information relating to school management, the quality of teaching and learning and rates of absenteeism and school exclusion.
4. Schools deemed by OFSTED to be requiring improvement would be obliged to implement action plans designed to secure improvement and failing schools would face the threat of closure.
5. The publication of examination results and OFSTED Reports would enable parents to make a more rational choice as among different schools and the introduction of more open access and formula funding would mean that parents would have far greater freedom to opt for the school of their choice.
6. Parents are thus provided with a substantial amount of information to assist their choice of school such that overall process of school choice has been described as a Parentocracy.
7.  Popular schools with increasing student numbers would attract larger financial funds to cater for increasing pupil numbers. For ineffective, unpopular schools the reverse would be the case.
8. Faced with this situation Boards of Governors, Headteachers and individual teachers would be incentivised to improve the efficiency of their schools as measured by the above -mentioned criteria and the introduction of the Local Management of Schools would give Boards of Governors and Headteachers greater autonomy relative to their Local Education Authority to determine their school’s policies.
9. The net effect would be that if the strategy of quasi-marketisation was effective, successful schools would expand and unsuccessful schools would contract resulting in increases in the overall efficiency of the school system.
10. It was hoped also that socially and economically disadvantaged students who had for years been denied access to a good education would also benefit from this new approach to educational policy.

In general terms  Tony Blair's  New Labour government accepted much of the Thatcherite neo-liberal agenda while at the same time claiming to support  a modernised version of social democracy which would be more in tune with the demands of an increasingly globalised world economy [all of which has been described , accurately or otherwise, by left wing critics as amounting to little more than "warmed over neo-liberalism" or "Thatcherism with a smiling face"] and he also showed himself to be ready to accept much of Conservative Education policy although New Labour would also introduce a range of compensatory measures such as the Sure Start Scheme and the Education Maintenance Allowance which many argued were informed by a recognisably social democratic political philosophy .

Under the Coalition Government of 2010-15 and subsequent Conservative Governments od 2015-2024, the quasi-marketisation of education continued as a result of the massive expansion of the Academies Programme and the introduction of Free Schools. The Sure Start Programme was scaled back, and the Educational Maintenance Allowance was discontinued by the Coalition Government of 2010-15 but this Government did introduce the Pupil Premium which has been retained by subsequent Conservative Governments

However, even by the late 1980s several education policy analysts were critical of the neo-liberal approach as was indicated especially in the work of Ball, Bowe and Gerwitz. In their study "Markets, Choice and Equity in Education " [1995]  Ball, Bowe and Gerwitz criticised Conservative education policies designed to provide parents with a wider choice of schools for their children because in their view middle class parents and their children would be especially likely to benefit from this choosing process because they possess the cultural and economic capital to choose more effectively. Regarding parental choice, Gerwirtz, Ball and Bowe distinguish between mainly middle class "privileged choosers" and mainly working class "semi-skilled and disconnected choosers" admitting however that these categories are, to some extent ideal types and that many parents may be difficult to classify exactly.

 

Privileged choosers are overwhelmingly middle class and are likely to opt either for private education or for the more successful state schools. To achieve this objective they may have purchased expensive houses in the catchment areas of effective state secondary schools; they may have chosen Middle Schools which are known to have especially good links with effective secondary schools ; they can afford to organise any necessary transport arrangements if the required schools are some distance away; they are both willing and able to take the time to assess information relating to examination results and related issues; they are comfortable in discussions with teachers and also ready to challenge them if they feel it to be necessary; they are familiar with sometimes complex application processes all of which puts them at an advantage in securing their children’s entrance to the more effective schools.

By contrast “disconnected choosers” are primarily working class and are more likely to opt for their local neighbourhood school which consequently is likely to have a more working-class intake. These parents certainly do show considerable interest in their children’s education, but their choice of secondary school is often not seen as especially important because “they typically see all schools as much the same”. For this reason, they are very likely to choose the secondary school in their own neighbourhood partly for reasons of convenience and partly because financial and time constraints inhibit their abilities to organise transport to more distant schools. They may also be influenced by friends, neighbours and relatives with similar views, and their choice of school may to some extent reflect their sense of belonging to their own local, working-class community. Thus, the authors conclude that” choice is very directly and powerfully related to social class differences” and that” choice emerges as a major new factor in maintaining and indeed reinforcing social class differences and inequalities”.

Essentially, according to Ball, Bowe and Gerwitz , middle class privileged choosers would be able to use their economic, cultural and social capital to ensure that as a result of increased parental choice it would be they rather than disconnected working class choosers who would be able to secure entry to the better quality schools while working class children be more likely to be consigned to lower quality schools with obviously adverse consequences for their education prospects. All of this would undermine Conservative claims that “parentocracy rules in the newly reformed education system.”

• Economic Capital

1. 1. Upper- and middle-class parents can afford to purchase relatively expensive houses in the catchment areas of successful state schools thus helping to ensure that their children will be able to attend such schools while working class children are more likely to attend less successful schools.
   2. If upper- and middle-class children are having educational difficulties their parents can afford to purchase additional relatively expensive private tuition for their children.
   3. If upper- and middle-class parents are dissatisfied with the quality of state education in their local area they can more easily arrange for transport to state schools located further afield, or they can relocate closer to more effective schools or they can opt to have their children educated privately. Private secondary education may be unaffordable for working class parents, costing as it may around £6000-£ 8000 per year even for non-boarding pupils.
   4. Click here for information from  a recent [2013] Sutton Trust Report suggesting that "almost a third of professional parents have  moved home for a good school.", Also for a more recent [2018] Sutton Trust Report which reaches similar conclusions  Click here

Cultural Capital

1. Upper- and middle-class parents are often relatively well educated and will almost certainly be able to help their children with homework if this proves to be necessary.
2. They are likely to have the confidence to believe that any educational difficulties experienced by their children can be resolved through discussion with teachers and are unlikely to assume that such difficulties are evidence of their children’s’ limited academic abilities.
3. They are more likely than working class parents to be able to interpret the fairly detailed statistics on school performance which are nowadays published and therefore better able to make an informed choice of schools for their children.
4. If popular schools are oversubscribed upper- and middle-class parents may be able to create favourable impressions which help to secure entry for their children to over- subscribed schools.
5. They may socialise their children to present themselves sympathetically in the eyes of mainly middle-class teachers.
6. They may provide leisure activities for their children [such as Music, Drama and additional sporting activities] which enable the children to present themselves more effectively, for example in university interviews.

Social Capital

1. Upper- and middle-class parents may be in social contact with other upper- and middle-class parents who can help them to evaluate the relative effectiveness of different schools prior to school choice.
2. They may know of particularly effective private tutors.
3. They may be able to arrange particularly useful work experiences or contacts with personal friends who are university lectures which will enable their children to prepare far more effectively for university entrance.

 

The ERA has also had important implications for the organisation of schools themselves as they must give more attention to marketing methods if they are to maintain student numbers and especially if they are to attract the middle-class children who are most likely to boost league table performance. Individual schools may have some freedom of manoeuvre to decide upon their response to the implications of the ERA and if Governors, Head teachers and senior staff are very committed to the ideals of comprehensive education and do not face strong competition from rival schools the impact of the ERA may be limited. However  this is unlikely  and Ball et al suggest that the 1988 Education Reform Act  has influenced school policy in several ways: it is more likely that resources may be diverted from actual teaching to improvements in the school buildings; new reception areas may be built; more professional prospectuses may be designed; open evenings are carefully choreographed; music and drama may be given a higher profile partly in and attempt to appeal to middle class parents.

Insofar as successful schools succeed in attracting increasing numbers of mainly middle-class pupils via careful marketing of the good examination results the financial resources available to less successful schools in mainly working areas will decline leading to declining educational opportunities for the mainly working-class pupils who still opt to attend these schools. The processes of increased parental choice under the terms of the Education Reform Act 1988 were therefore likely to result in increased inequality of educational opportunity.

 

Academies and Free Schools

You may click here and here for further information on the Academies Programme  and here for further information  on Free Schools.

Click here for the most recent [2025] NFER report of Free Schools In which “the results….paint a broadly positive picture for pupils enrolled in secondary free schools in England”.

 

The general arguments in favour of academisation are that in the case of Sponsored Academies the sponsors who might be business, churches, charities, or universities would be able to apply their expertise effectively in school settings to raise school efficiency and that Converter Academies which initially were schools judged outstanding by OFSTED  would benefit from the greater autonomy allowed by academy status. Subsequently other less effective schools would benefit from academisation via partnership with more effective Converter Academies and the setting up of Multi-Academy Trusts would enable best practices to be implemented by all members of each Trust. The growth of academisation would feed into the overall quasi-marketisation of education which through competition for pupils would increase the overall efficiency of the school system. However, critics of academisation were certainly not convinced.

Government spokespersons continue to argue that Academies and Free Schools have the potential to improve overall educational standards, and it is true that some academies and free schools are very successful. However, some are not successful and on average there is little differences in the overall attainments of Academy pupils and pupils from local authority schools. Critics have variously argued that there is no necessary reason why expertise in non-educational settings might improve the overall effectiveness of schools; that the organisation of academies especially within Multi-Academy Trusts limits parental involvement in schools’ organisation; that the occasional collapse of multi-academy trusts results in the creation of so-called “Zombie Schools with no overall management structure; that salaries of chief administrators of Multi-academy trusts are excessive; that the system of Regional Commissioners set up for the control of academies is inefficient; that there have been occasional cases of suspicious financial practices; and that the quasi-marketisation of education serves to increase inequality of educational opportunity without necessarily improving overall educational standards.

I reiterate that some Academies and some Multi-Academy Trusts are performing well and you may Click here and here and here and here and here and here for support for academies

However, some of the criticisms of the Academies Programme are illustrated via the following sources.

 

Schools judged unsatisfactory by Ofsted are still obliged to become academies even when this is against parents’ wishes and it is reported here that between 2016 and 2019 314 primary schools were forced to become academies  and this article indicates that controversies over forced academisation continue

Click here  for “Academies without parents on boards “risk community rejection” [ Guardian 2019]

Click here for 53,000 pupils in limbo after rise in “zombie “academy trusts. [Guardian 2019

Click here for Academy chains underperforming for disadvantaged children, study finds [Guardian 2018]]

It is reported here that in 2019 maintained [i.e. local authority controlled ] schools actually outperformed academies in SATs taken at the end of year 6.

Click here for a critical assessment of academies. [Guardian 2019]

Click here  and here  for coverage of a critical assessment of government education policies from the University College London Institute of Education [2018]

 

GCSE and GCE Advanced Level Results:  Different Types of School

It is difficult to interpret and summarise examination results for different types of school and GCE Advanced Level Sociology students will not be required to present detailed data in their examinations and so they should take advice from their teachers as to an appropriate examination strategy on this aspect of the topic.  

Click here for Ofqual graphics on GCSE results in England by centre type and here for GCSE outcomes in England 2008- 2023 and here for regional data   and more

Click here for Ofqual Graphics on GCE Advanced Level results by centre type.

• At GCSE Level 7/A and above Free Schools outperform Secondary Comprehensive and Middle Schools by about 2% and Secondary Comprehensives and Middle Schools narrowly outperform Academies.
• At GCSE Level 4/C and above the patterns are similar in 2024 and 2025 although in earlier years the gap between Free schools and Secondary Comprehensives and Middle Schools is smaller.
• AT GCEA* Level Free School results are considerably higher than Academy results and Academy results are slightly higher than Secondary Comprehensive or middle school results.
• At GCE Advanced Level A and above Free School results considerably higher than Academy results and Axademy results are slightly higher than Comprehensive and Middle School results. For example. in 2024 33.5% of Free School subject results were at Grade A or above compared with 22.5% of Academies subject results and 21.6% of Secondary comprehensive or middle school subject results
• At GCE Advanced Level C and above Free School results, are considerably higher than Academy results and Academy results are usually slightly higher than Secondary Comprehensive and Middle school results although in 2025 Secondary Comprehensive or Middle school results were higher than Academy results.

However, these GCE Advanced Level data must be interpreted with care.

Click here for A Level and other 16-18 results 2023/2024  and here for extracted data on Attainment and other performance measures-by institution type and gender in 2023/2024 These data indicate that there were significant differences in GCE Advanced Level results as between   Free Schools and Free Schools 16-19.

in relation to the superior A Level results of Free Schools as illustrated in the data we should also note the following points.

Free Schools accounted for only 104 A Level centres which suggests that it may be dangerous to generalise from such a small sample.

The DfE data distinguish between the performances of 16-19 Free Schools and 11-19 Free Schools. The performance of 16-19 Free Schools is indeed superior to that of LA maintained mainstream schools but that of 11-19 free schools is very similar in terms of Average A level result but worse in terms of proportions of students gaining high grade A level passes by comparison with LA maintained mainstream schools.

Also, although Free Schools in general are not permitted to select by ability, this restriction does not apply to 16-19 Free Schools. Although all state schools impose some entry restrictions on access to A level courses. it may well be that 16-19 Free Schools are on average more selective in relation to A Level access than LA maintained mainstream schools which may well help to explain their superior A level results.

It was recognised early on that many of 16-19 Free Schools  would be highly selective as is indicated  here  and for examples of  highly selective 16-19 Free Schools Click here for Kings Maths School  and here   for the London Academy of Excellence Tottenham

Click here   and here for information surrounding the Labour Government’s decision to pause the  plans made by the previous Conservative Government to open  to open new free schools .

In my view we can infer little about the relative effectiveness of  Academies and Local Authority Maintained Secondary comprehensive or middle school results since we have no information on the prior attainments of the pupils at these schools, but it does seem difficult to claim that the Academies programme have had a major impact on educational attainment, Very similar conclusions are drawn by Ss Freedman in his  study “Failed State” 2024 where he states that “While we have no gold standard studies, schools that didn’t become academies perform roughly as well. There is as much variation between academy trusts as there was between local authorities when they controlled all schools.”  while in a recent article in The Conversation, Professor Stephen Gorard concludes that “. My research has found that academy schools are no better at raising attainment than the schools they replaced.”

Ofqual data indicate that at GCSE Level Free Schools do narrowly outperform Secondary Comprehensive or Middle Schools which narrowly outperform Academies. At GCE Advanced Level, Free Schools outperform Secondary Comprehensive or Middle Schools and Academies, but it is important to distinguish been 11-19 Free Schools whose results are worse than those of Secondary Comprehensive or Middle Schools and Academies and the results of 16-19 Free Schools whose results are considerably better partly because some of these schools are highly selective.

 

Free School Meal Eligibility and GCSE Results in Different Types of School

It is very important also to assess the examination achievements of pupils eligible for free school meals in different types of school.  Click here  for data relating to the 2024/25 GCSE examinations in England

These data indicate that in terms of the percentage of FSM eligible pupils achieving grades 4 or above and 5 and above in English and Maths, results are very slightly better in Converter Academies than in LA maintained mainstream schools but 6-7% better in Free Schools than in Converter Academies and LA maintained mainstream schools. Also, percentages of FSM eligible pupils achieving grades 5 or above in the EBacc are considerably higher in Free Schools partly because the percentages of pupils actually entering the EBacc are considerably higher in Free Schools.

As expected, GCSE results in Sponsored Academies are worse than in Free Schools, Converter Academies and Local Authority Maintained Schools.

It would appear, therefore, that FSM eligible pupils have better prospects at GCSE Level in Free Schools, but we cannot be certain that the FSM eligible pupils in the different schools have similar disadvantages. A report from the Education Policy Institute of 2019 suggested that FSM pupils entering Free Schools might well be economically disadvantaged but less likely to be educationally disadvantaged than FSM pupils joining other schools.

Also, in any case, there are difficult issues surrounding the analysis of the extent to which an observed reduction in FSM-NFSM attainment gaps would necessarily indicate that schools are meeting the education needs of FSM – eligible pupils more effectively.

Click here for further analysis of this point.

 

Grammar Schools and Private Schools

Supporters of Grammar Schools argue that they provide high quality education which develops the talents of high ability pupils whereas opponents claim that class-based advantages help to ensure that middle class pupils are disproportionately likely to pass 11 plus examinations. Supporters of Grammar Schools counter that under the Comprehensive system selection by post code replaces selection by ability.

 

Fees at top Private Schools are very high and although these schools do provide some bursaries for less affluent pupils, the top Private Schools are attended disproportionately by the children of rich and comfortably off. These schools do provide high quality education, but it is certainly not equally available to all

Further information on Grammar Schools is provided here and here

Further information on Private Schools is provided here and here

Quasi-Marketisation d Private Schools and Access to Higher Education.

In support of the quasi-marketisation of education, it has been argued that quasi-marketisation would improve the overall efficiency of the school system and that this would enable more students [ including more students eligible for free school meals] to enter Higher Education

Click here for data on Progression to HE and Progression to High Tariff HE 2005/06 – 2023/24

These data indicate that access to HE and to High Tariff HE has increased in the last 18 years for both pupils eligible and ineligible for FSM but that progression gap for both HE and High Tariff HE is higher now than in 2008/9. Notice also that in 2023/24 only 4.9% of pupils eligible for FSM progressed to High Tariff HE compared with 14.3 % of pupils ineligible for FSM.

Click here for further information on trends in access to Higher Education.

 

Conclusions

Many although not all sociologists  have , for a variety of reasons , been critical of the effects of the quasi-marketisation of education  yet  these policies have been strongly supported by Nick Gibb and Robert Peal in  their recent book Reforming Lessons: Why English Schools have improved since 2010 and how this was achieved  although this book has itself not been without its critics

The Labour Government elected to office in 2024 is intending to levy VAT on Private School fees and to tighten the regulations governing the running of academies although the precise details of these changes are still being debated in Parliament. Labour has also paused some Conservative plans which were intended to increase the current number of Free Schools. Nevertheless, some problems associated with school choice are yet to be resolved.

Meanwhile n 2025  Conservative spokespersons  in opposition continue to defend their previous education policies claiming that the results of PISA  tests show England rising in the international  while Scotland and Wales who have not adopted the quasi-marketisation approach have fallen back in the PISA  rankings; that GCSE and GCE Advanced Level results  [ including results for pupils eligible for free school meals are better in Academies and Free Schools than in the Secondary Schools which remain under local authority control ;  that  access to Higher Education , including access for pupils eligible for free school meals,  is increasing and that  the current Labour Government will undermine the freedoms which have enabled Academies and Free Schools to perform effectively and weaken the Independent Education sector at the expense of freedom of parental choice.

Against this it has been argued that improved PISA rankings do not necessarily prove that the English education system is improving and that even if the English education system is improving this improvement may not necessarily be caused by education policies based around the quasi- [marketisation of education. Education. There are also disputes as to the effectiveness of Academies and Free Schools. You may click here for some further information on the possible limitations of PISA tests. The debate continues

 

Part Five: Summary and Conclusions - Click Here

 Return to Part One: Some Introductory Links Followed By Early Investigations - Click Here

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