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Investigating the determinants of segregation between schools

This paper confirms two characteristics of socio-economic segregation between schools since 1988 in England and Wales. First, using figures from all schools in England and Wales relating to family income and special educational needs, it is made clear that overall segregation between schools has been declining since 1988 so that schools are generally becoming more mixed in their intakes over time. This is true of special educational needs and eligibility for, and takeup of, free school meals in both England and Wales, and at primary as well as secondary level. Second, there are variations in segregation, and in the changes to that segregation, between different regions. Although most LEAs show a marked decline in between-school segregation, some show no change and a few show a marked increase. One possible explanation for these differences is tested here, using figures relating to the growing number of parental appeals against school placement, and the diversity of schooling available in different regions. The intriguing result suggests that whatever is driving the ongoing desegregation in England and Wales the changes are not primarily due to market forces. They are more likely to be due to social and demographic changes, coupled with local authority reorganization and other more specifically local factors. It is also clear that, for some regions at least, the greater equality is an ‘equality of poverty’. These findings are therefore a double challenge to observers who feel that segregation is increasing and that this is a market phenomenon.