3 Diversity in English Secondary Education
13 Diversity in secondary education can be described
and delivered in a number of ways, by reference to school type,
the constitutional arrangements under which schools are governed,
financed and held accountable; their curriculum; their pupil intake;
or combinations of these. Recent governments have placed great
emphasis on attaining diversity among schools by creating or emphasising
structural differences between schools, in terms of their constitutional
arrangements, and the present Government has explicitly linked
this form of diversity with its efforts to raise standards. The
specialist schools programme has been explicitly identified as
a school improvement programme designed to raise pupil achievement
by this means. However, the scope for creating diversity through
the curriculum is significantly limited by the requirement for
all maintained schools to deliver the National Curriculum.[11]
14 Differences between schools in terms of their
intake reflect both geography and active measures to determine
the pupil profile of schools through admissions criteria and/or
selection. The fourth and final part of this inquiry will focus
on admissions to English secondary schools and their consequences,
but for the purposes of this stage of the inquiry we have taken
the opportunity to consider the evidence on the relationship between
diversity and admissions.
15 Our theme is diversity so we begin with a
review of the range of diversity in the secondary sector. This
is not intended to be an exhaustive account but rather to clarify,
for the purposes of this report, the common school descriptors
and their meanings.
16 The School Standards and Framework Act 1998
established a new framework for the organisation of schools and
the following categories of maintained schools, to take effect
from September 1999.
Community schools where
the local education authority (LEA) employs school staff, owns
the schools' land and buildings and is the admissions authority;
Foundation schools where
the governing body is both employer and admissions authority.
A school's land and buildings are either owned by the governing
body or by a charitable foundation.[12]
Voluntary Aided schools
where the governing body is both employer and admissions authority.
The school's land and buildings (apart from playing fields which
are normally vested in the LEA) are usually owned by a charitable
foundation. The governing body will contribute towards the capital
costs of establishing the school and any subsequent capital building
work.
Voluntary Controlled schools
where the local education authority employs schools' staff and
is the admissions authority. School's land and buildings (apart
from playing fields which are normally vested in the LEA) are
usually owned by a charitable foundation.[13]
17 Foundation, voluntary aided and voluntary
controlled schools may be designated by the Secretary of State
as having a religious character. The staffing arrangements of
these schools include scope to preserve the religious character
of schools through the application of a religious or denominational
test in appointing or promoting staff. Such schools also provide
denominational collective worship.[14]
18 While most pupils transfer from primary to
secondary school at age 11, this arrangement is not universal.
In the maintained sector some pupils are educated in middle schools,
either 'deemed primary' (years 4-7) or 'deemed secondary' (years
5-8). In addition secondary schools are known by a further level
of nomenclature reflecting, with varying degrees of accuracy,
the manner in which they admit pupils. Such labels include comprehensive,
designated grammar (selective), secondary modern, faith, and independent
schools.
Comprehensive schools
19 Theoretically the dominant model in English
education, the comprehensive principle of a balanced pupil intake
and equality of educational opportunity for pupils of all ability
levels and social backgrounds, consistently has been attacked
by influential voices in successive governments and the national
media whose preference is for a more stratified education system.
Consequently, 10% of English LEAs retain a wholly selective admissions
policy for secondary schools, almost one third of English LEAs
operate a partially selective system and a majority of the remainder
have to deal with a variety of more subtle forms of selection.
Consequently, in some parts of the country the comprehensive label
has not been attractive. Professor Tim Brighouse has said of the
term comprehensive that:
"Its use has increasingly implied something
vaguely second-rate. The phrase "the local comp" has
become sufficiently worrying that very few of the 3,000 plus schools
which could reasonably incorporate its use in their headed notepaper
and school signs choose to do so."[15]
20 Designed to replace the tripartite secondary
model of grammar, secondary modern and technical schools, comprehensive
schools, in their original mission, were essentially defined by
their intake, based within a community, admitting pupils across
the full ability range of that community. In some areas, this
has been refined by the development of banding for school admissions;
allocation of school places based on intelligence tests to ensure
a good ability mix in each school. In practice other factors,
including a multiplicity of Government initiatives, have served
to frustrate this comprehensive ideal so that most secondary schools,
and certainly those in the larger towns, cities and metropolitan
areas, do not attract and retain a truly comprehensive pupil intake
that is representative both of the full ability range and the
communities within which they are located.
21 School diversity impacts on schools' pupil
intake in ways surely unimagined by policy makers. Wholly selective
schools and those schools which select a proportion of their intake;
the operation of parental preference; specialist, single sex and
faith schools, all have the effect of narrowing the pool from
which the intakes of non-selective, non-specialist schools are
drawn. Such schools therefore largely comprise the children of
parents who fail to obtain a place in their preferred school and
of those who were unwilling or unable to exercise their preference.
Thus, physical and social geography combine to produce a spectrum
of schools distinguished by their intake.
Selective schools
22. Selection is used as an admissions device
in a number of different school types. Independent schools and
grammar schools routinely select some or all their intake, usually
by means of the common entrance examination (in the case of independent
schools) or the 11-Plus, (for grammar schools). There are currently
164 designated grammar schools in England. The place of grammar
schools in English education has been the subject of much campaigning
over the last 4 decades. While such schools are now relatively
few in number, their selective practices impact on the educational
experiences of very many young people.[16]
There are also schools in wholly selective areas whose pupils
are largely those not selected (or not submitted for selection)
to grammar schools. They have frequently adopted new titles such
as high schools and in some cases developed sixth forms.
23 In addition to the wholly selective grammar
schools, the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 permits the
admissions authority of any maintained secondary school which
declares a subject specialism, to select up to 10% of its intake
on the basis of aptitude. It is a common misapprehension that
this facility is limited to those schools formally designated
as specialist by the Department for Education and Skills.
24 There are also an unspecified number of partially
selective schools, selecting up to 50% of their intake on grounds
of ability or aptitude. These schools, which had selection procedures
in place in 1997/8, may continue to select a proportion of their
pupils provided that there is no change in the methods of selection
or the proportion of pupils selected.[17]
This selection is not limited to a maximum of 10%. There is no
provision for the creation of new grammar schools. Existing grammar
schools may change their admissions to non-selective in response
to a parental ballot, though none have yet done so.[18]
Faith schools
25 Faith schools have been enthusiastically supported
by the DfES and the Prime Minister on grounds of their distinctive
ethos and perceived academic success.[19]
26 The 1944 Education Act provided for the incorporation
of existing faith schools into the maintained sector. These schools
were designated as Voluntary Aided (mainly Catholic), and Voluntary
Controlled (mainly Church of England). There are 580 secondary
schools or middle schools, deemed secondary with a religious character.
Designation as a faith school is limited to foundation and voluntary
schools. In the maintained faith school sector, Roman Catholic
and Church of England schools dominate, although there are now
a small but increasing number of Muslim, Sikh and Jewish maintained
schools.
27 Faith schools have, uniquely for providers
of generalist education in the maintained sector, been permitted
to interview applicants and their parents in order to ascertain
religious affiliation and commitment where this is explicit in
the admissions requirements. Professor Richard Pring of Oxford
University told us that research on this practice has suggested
that "selection based ostensibly on 'faith', skewed the social
class intake of Church schools".[20]
This may in turn account for the marginally higher than average
academic achievements of pupils in faith schools.
28 A recent study by Professor Anne West and
Audrey Hind at the London School of Economics on the operation
of overt and covert selection in school admission, found that
10% of Voluntary Aided schools reported interviewing parents and
16% reported interviewing pupils.[21]
Guidance contained in the new Code of Practice on School Admissions[22]
discourages this practice with the advice that "for the admission
round leading to September 2005 intakes and subsequent admissions,
no parents or children should be interviewed as any part of the
application or admission process".[23]
The issue of school admissions will be pursued in detail in a
later report.
Independent schools
29 Over 9%[24]
of pupils in England aged 11-19 years attend fee paying secondary
independent schools. These schools, many of which operate under
charitable status, are subject to regulation through the Department
for Education and Skills and to inspection by Ofsted and the Independent
Schools Inspectorate.
The new diversity
City Technology Colleges and Specialist
Schools
30 The specialist model has a remarkable pedigree.
It has developed through a lineage of eight Secretaries of State,
apparently never losing favour. This success is in no small part
attributable to the tenacity of its leading proponent, Sir Cyril
Taylor, Chairman of the Specialist Schools Trust.[25]
This sustained advocacy has enabled the specialist model to withstand
changes in administration and educational fashion, and has developed
and adapted to the policies of successive Secretaries of State.
31 The trend for subject specialism began with
the City Technology Colleges initiative 1988 and the Technology
Colleges programme in 1993. Technology Colleges were intended
to prepare more young people to go into careers in science and
technology, while also attempting to raise levels of attainment
in secondary schools, particularly in the troublesome inner cities.
The CTCs were set up as independent schools, funded by the Government
and sponsored by industry. It was in part the disappointing level
of business sponsorship that was the key to the transformation
of the initiative into the specialist schools programme.
32 The specialist schools programme was launched
in 1994 and was restricted to an elite group of grant maintained
and voluntary aided schools wishing to specialise in technology.
Evidence of academic success was an explicit criterion for entry
to the programme. The initiative continued the emphasis on business
links, but reduced the level of financial sponsorship to an initial
£100,000, which could be drawn from a number of sources.
The programme was expanded in 1995 to incorporate specialisms
in modern foreign languages and in 1997 to include sports and
arts.[26]
Some suggest it is paradoxical that the Government's key diversity
policy, the specialist schools programme, apparently emphasises
curricula differences, while delivering schools that are largely
identical in curriculum terms, but different in terms of their
funding and resources.
33 Giving evidence to the Committee, Sir Cyril
Taylor outlined the seven arguments for the promotion and extension
of the specialist schools programme:
a) Specialist schools raise standards;
b) They offer diversity and choice in secondary
provision;
c) Many specialist schools specialise in subjects
valuable to the modern economy;
d) They make a positive contribution to education
in the inner cities;
e) Partnerships between specialist schools and
their primary and secondary neighbours help to raise standards
in other schools;
f) Specialist schools have been pioneers in developing
new approaches to teaching and learning, especially in the use
of ICT;
g) Business/education partnerships bring benefits
to support pupils' learning.[27]
34 While the required level of sponsorship to
qualify for specialist school status has been reduced (to £50,000,
and £20,000 for the smallest schools), this still represents
a considerable and sometimes insurmountable difficulty for some
schools in areas where schools and local industry alike face difficult
circumstances.[28]
However, in schools where productive relationships with local
business have been forged, such as those we visited in Birmingham,
significant benefit has been derived through the involvement of
business in education, and this is to be welcomed.
35 The statement made by the Secretary of State
on 28 November 2002 that:
"My Department is announcing a new partnership
fund of £3 million in 2003-04 to be administered with the
technology colleges trust in accordance with guidelines from my
Department. This is designed specifically to help schools that
have difficulty in meeting the current £50,000 sponsorship
requirement."[29]
This additional funding is, of course, welcome. However,
the scale of the fund, in the context of the number of schools
yet to join the programme and the level of sponsorship to be raised
by each school, means that in practice, the fund will sufficient
to help only a relatively small number of schools.
36 The emphasis of the programme has shifted
over time from creating centres of excellence in the subject specialism,
to its current mission which is explicitly aimed at school improvement.[30]
David Miliband MP, Minister of State for School Standards, told
us:
"The purpose of the specialist school programme
is that it is a school improvement programme, not… a sort
of fetishism of a particular subject. There is a danger that because
we have the label "specialist schools" it could give
off the idea that if you go to a science college all we are interested
in doing is teaching you science, whereas that is not true. The
purpose of the specialist school programme is to help raise standards
across the board."[31]
37 The essence of specialist schools is therefore
the investment in, and development of, subject-specific staff
expertise and resources, rather than schools delivering a curriculum
biased towards a particular discipline.
38 To qualify for designation, schools must present
a four-year school and community development plan with ambitious
but achievable targets and performance indicators against which
success can be judged. Each application must raise at least £50,000
in unconditional sponsorship in order to be considered. Schools
with less than 500 pupils (based on figures from the most recent
Annual School Census) are required to raise a reduced level of
sponsorship (equivalent to £100 per pupil, with a minimum
of £20,000). Applications for specialist status must include:
a) A four-year Development Plan with measurable
objectives and performance targets which focuses on improving
provision for and standards in the relevant specialist subjects;
b) Sponsorship details, including proposals for
achieving ongoing links with sponsors;
c) An outline of the school's bid for a capital
grant to improve facilities for teaching the specialist subjects;
d) An indication of how the school would use
the additional annual grant to implement your School and Community
Development Plans and achieve the targets which you have set for
improved performance and higher standards
39 It has been widely acknowledged that the process
of designation has become a valuable part of the process, encouraging
schools to engage in critical evaluation of their work and their
future direction,[32]
although the amount of work involved in the process, particularly
in terms of the effort involved in raising sponsorship is substantial.[33]
40 The role of business and industry in the development
of the specialist schools programme has received significant media
attention and we acknowledge and welcome the part that both public
and private sector organisations have to play in raising pupil
achievement. These valuable contributions are made in staff time
as well as physical and financial resources and, from the evidence
we saw on our visit to Birmingham, clearly make a significant
impact on the learning opportunities available to many pupils.
41 We consider that there may be further opportunities
for business and public sector organisations to develop their
role in education and we are particularly interested in the part
that local economic regeneration organisations may be able to
play in raising aspirations and achievement in their communities
and in encouraging active participation by local business.
42 We are mindful of that the ability of schools
to attract sponsorship is linked to the nature of the specialism
they pursue and the interests of local business and industry.
We are concerned that those schools working towards the recently
approved specialisms in the humanities may therefore find it particularly
difficult to attract financial support.
43 In 2001 Ofsted conducted an evaluation of
327 specialist schools with at least 2 years in operation.[34]
In January 2003 Ofsted prepared an update on this report for this
inquiry.[35]
The evidence affirmed the strong academic performance of many
specialist schools, particularly the languages colleges, but observed
that sports colleges continue to achieve below the national average
using the 5 A*-C GCSE measure.[36]
Sir Cyril Taylor, in response to this finding, acknowledged that
the performance of sports colleges was associated with the profile
of the pupil intake, which was of lower ability than that for
the other specialisms,[37]
while Professor Gorard of Cardiff University, observed that the
sports and arts colleges have the least segregated intake of the
specialist schools.[38]
44 There are currently 992 designated specialist
schools in operation and the Government has a target for at least
2000 to be in operation by 2006.[39]
Academies
45 The Learning and Skills Act 2000 made provision
for the creation of City Academies, independent schools
funded directly by Government, without the control and accountability
structures of local education authorities.[40]
Subsequently re-branded as Academies, these schools may
be established to replace one or more LEA maintained schools.
Academies may be established in any setting, for any age group.
They have a broad curriculum but usually place an emphasis on
one or two curriculum areas.[41]
There are currently three Academies in operation and the Government
expects at least 33 to be open by 2006. The strategy document,
'A New Specialist System'[42]
notes that the DfES is in discussion with a number of city technology
colleges about becoming academies.
A Shifting landscape of initiatives
46 Beyond the high profile policies outlined
above, there is a further raft of school based initiatives, including
Extended Schools (bringing a broad and variable range of services
onto the school site); The Leading Edge Programme, formerly the
Advanced Schools programme (the best secondary schools spreading
good practice and stimulating school improvement in their neighbours);
and Training Schools (developing practice in teacher training).
These overlay curriculum initiatives such as the Key Stage 3 strategy
and regional programmes including Excellence in Cities, Excellence
Clusters and a range of special grants and support for schools
facing challenging circumstances, those causing concern and schools
in special measures.[43]
47 This intricate and shifting latticework of
policy, programmes and initiative, provides a complex backdrop
to the focus of our inquiry and a very real challenge to all those
who seek to evaluate the impact and the value for money of any
one of the Government's education policies.
11 Ev 2 Back
12
Prior to the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 many foundation
schools were classified as grant maintained schools. Back
13
Ev 91 Back
14
Ibid. Back
15
Professor Tim Brighouse, Caroline Benn, Brian Simon Memorial Lecture,
28 September 2002. Back
16
Ev 177 Back
17
School Standards and Framework Act 1998, section 100. Back
18
Ev 92 Back
19
"Blair ensures triumph of faith", Times Educational
Supplement, 1 March 2002, p 11. Back
20
Ev 2. Professor Pring cites the work of Benn, C & Chitty,
C Thirty Years On, David Fulton, 1996. Back
21
Secondary school admissions in England: Exploring the extent
of overt and covert selection, Anne West & Audrey Hind,
London School of Economics, 2003. Back
22
School Admissions Code of Practice, 02/2003, DfES/0031/2003. Back
23
School Admissions Code of Practice, 02/2003, DfES/0031/2003
para 3.16. Back
24
Statistics of Education, Schools in England, National Statistics
2002 edition p 26 and 73 not including CTCs. Back
25
Previously the Technology Colleges Trust, and formerly the City
Technology Colleges Trust, the TCT changed its name with effect
from 31 January 2003. Back
26
Ev 88 Back
27
Q 331 Back
28
Ev 160; Education and Skills Committee, Second Report of Session
2002-03, Secondary Education: visits to Birmingham and Auckland,
HC 486, Q 112. Back
29
Rt. Hon Charles Clarke MP, HC Deb, 28 November 2002, col 442. Back
30
Q 277 Back
31
Education and Skills Committee, Minutes of Evidence, Session 2002-03,
Work of the Department for Education and Skills, HC177-ii,
Q 104. Back
32
Q 353, Q 402 Back
33
Ev 160 Back
34
Specialist Schools: An evaluation of progress, Ofsted,
October 2001. Back
35
Ev 64-5 Back
36
Ev 65 Back
37
Q 355 Back
38
Stephen Gorard and Chris Taylor, Specialist schools in England:
track record and future prospect, Cardiff University 2001,
p 21. Back
39
Ev 93; Target set in Investment for reform, DfES, July
2002. Back
40
Ev 178 Back
41
Ev 92 Back
42
A New Specialist System: Transforming Secondary Education,
DfES, February 2003, p 22. Back
43
Including the Leadership Incentive Grant (£125,000 per year
for 3 years), grants for schools facing challenging circumstances
(£20,000 - £70,000) and support for schools in special
measures (through LEAs, £70,000 per year) source: Ev 102,
part 4. Back
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