School Admissions
30. Birmingham has a complex variety of school
admissions arrangements. Professor Brighouse was concerned that
the current policy did not address many of the issues facing large
cities. He told us that the Government needed to "be firm
of purpose about stipulating criteria for admission and coordinated
admission arrangements and about the issue of children who are
excluded and then placed in another school, because the tendency
is for the most highlyrated schools to kick children out
when they are kicking over the traces, but then not accept others".[22]
31. The Admissions policy in New Zealand is mainly
based on the concept of zoning. When a school has too many children
wishing to enrol, the Ministry of Education may allow a school
to operate an enrolment scheme to prevent overcrowding. Many of
the schools in Auckland have a local 'zone' and a child has a
right to attend a school if they live within its zone. If a school
is not full once it has accommodated all the children within its
zone, those extra places can be offered to children from outside
the zone. Preference is given to certain children (e.g. they have
a sibling at the school) but most children have to go into a strictly
controlled ballot for the remaining places. Extra places tend
to be restricted, so the element of choice is very limited. Parents
could try to exercise this 'choice' by moving in to the school's
zone or falsely claiming a right to attend the school. We were
told that this system had various consequences which included
the tendency of better-off parents to move into the zones of higher
decile schools (schools with an intake of children from a richer
socio-economic background). Both admissions systems had elements
to recommend them and we will take further evidence on this issue
during the final part of our secondary education inquiry.
Conclusions
32. We began our inquiry into secondary education
with two informative visits. We recognise that the Committee is
not often able to explore policy issues with so many of the practitioners
who work within the policies we examine. We were extremely grateful
for the opportunity to do so on this occasion.
33. We have had the opportunity to examine education
in two challenging urban environments. Both cities have experienced
a variety of education policies over recent years designed to
improve secondary education. It was interesting to visit Auckland,
a city which had moved from a system very similar to our own to
a extremely decentralised administration. Despite the obvious
differences in structure, the PISA survey indicates that both
education systems deliver a high standard of education to the
majority of students. Both also continue to search for effective
methods to raise the achievement of underperforming groups of
students. We will continue to explore all the issues raised with
us throughout our secondary education inquiry.
1 Ofsted / Audit Commission Inspection of Birmingham
Local Education Authority - April 2002 Back
2
Minutes of Evidence taken before the Education and Skills Committee
on 16 - 20 September 2002
Back
3
Defined as average of ward deprivation scores, in the LEA districts.
Department for Transport Local Government and the Regions Indices
of Deprivation 2000: Appendix C - District Level Summaries of
the Ward Level Index of Multiple Deprivation. Back
4
Professor Tim Brighouse was Birmingham's Chief Education Officer
from 1993 until 2002. Back
5
Ofsted / Audit Commission Inspection of Birmingham Local Education
Authority - April 2002 Back
6
Ofsted, PRESS RELEASE: NR 200266, 10 April 2002 Back
7
Ofsted / Audit Commission Inspection of Birmingham Local Education
Authority - April 2002 Back
8
Minutes of evidence taken before the Education and Skills Committee:
Wednesday 20 March 2002, HC 711-i Back
9
Average mathematics and literacy scores. Back
10
The United Kingdom was ranked as 8th and 9th in the PISA mathematics
and literacy tests. Back
11
Birmingham LEA does not use the term secondary modern. It only
makes a distinction between selective and non-selective schools.
Non-selective schools are classified as comprehensive, regardless
of their intake. The DfES does not use the term secondary modern,
however it recognises the term as an acceptable category in its
Annual Schools' Census. Back
12
Q.292 Back
13
Ibid Back
14
Q.112 Back
15
The Birmingham Education Commission had revealed widespread dissatisfaction
with education policy in the city and a disturbing level of underachievement
in its reports. There was evidence of a lack of resourcing and
that the school building stock was in a poor state. The Commission
recommended a number of specific measures to be taken by the Education
Department to raise achievement. Back
16
Q.20 Back
17
Ibid Back
18
A small number of schools require serious inventions by the Ministry
of Education. In 2001 144 schools, out of the 2718 schools on
New Zealand, required intervention. This could be compared with
the 129 schools put in special measures by Ofsted in 2001. Back
19
Q.191 Back
20
Q.6 Back
21
Q.129 Back
22
Q.291 Back
