Examination of Witnesses (Questions 60
- 61)
WEDNESDAY 10 SEPTEMBER 2003
PROFESSOR ANNE
WEST, PROFESSOR
JOHN FITZ
AND PROFESSOR
JOHN COLDRON
Q60 Chairman: So it would be more
appropriate for the LEA to do that rather than individual schools.
Professor Fitz: Yes.
Professor Coldron: I would say
it is not just banding. It is an ingredient in certain parts,
exactly as Anne has said, so I would agree with everything she
has said. I would say that my view is that the aim of admissions
authorities should be to help to equalise intakes, not to increase
parental choice, and a whole set of ingredients needs to be brought
to that purpose, banding being one of them.
Professor Fitz: I agree with both
John and Anne on that. I think working towards some notion of
balanced intakes within each school is highly desirable, both
in terms of social mix and also the data—the now very ancient
data—on the effect it can have on student performance. Banding
is certainly one way of achieving that. But, again, Anne is absolutely
right in saying that it is applicable to urban areas but it will
not work in rural areas where schools may be 20 miles apart. Then
I think you have to go for another model.
Q61 Chairman: What does your research
suggest, either to this Committee in terms of its recommendations
or the sort of thing you would like to see the Department for
Education and Skills change? What are the key changes to improve
the situation that we are having in our education sector at the
moment?
Professor Fitz: There are a number
of possibilities which perhaps need to be considered, some of
which I think we have mentioned in passing this morning. For example,
it may well be the case, that to reduce the bureaucracy and to
reduce some of the risk to parents as well one could have an admissions
day, where whatever preferences are made are expressed on one
day nationally, so that you reduce the number of schools to which
parents are applying. That is one way forward. Banding is certainly
another. The other one we have mentioned this morning is thinking
about subsidised transport. The fourth thing is extra funding
following difficult-to-educate children, who present a challenge
to schools. That may be for socio-economic reasons, it may be
for reasons of disability and so on, so that there is some support
for schools to think about mixed intakes, balanced intakes.
Professor West: I think in an
ideal world—and this is not necessarily highly practical—I
would have 150 admission authorities for the country, one per
LEA. For religious schools, there is no reason as far as I can
see why those schools should not get confirmation of a person's
religiosity via a letter from the priest or religious leader.
That means that one can then ensure that the church schools actually
can maintain their situation. I think there is a big problem if
one is going to try to intervene on that front. There is an issue
there about open places as well that religious schools might have,
but I think that is another issue. I think I would go for reducing
the number of admission authorities drastically. I think politically
that might not be possible but that would be the ideal opption.
I would also have a menu of admissions criteria that were considered
to be appropriate and acceptable and that were not discriminatory.
I personally would not go for partial selection. Again, that is
a value judgment, if you like. I think that banding would be a
very sensible way forward in certain areas if done at an LEA level.
Also, to ease the burden on some schools that have not previously
had more difficult pupils, I think the differential funding would
also be a productive area to consider.
Professor Coldron: Of the ones
that have not been mentioned—and I agree with all of those—I
think admission authorities should seek to maximise parental preference
overall, rather than giving absolute priority to the first in
a ranked list of schools; that is, to follow the model in the
Code of Admissions. I think there is some room for the collaborative
model, federations of schools, and making active exploration of
those as the admission unit and the reporting for league position
and so on rather than the individual school. I am very fuzzy on
that one but I think it needs exploring. I think the major over-subscription
criteria for community schools should be proximity and for voluntary
aided schools should be catchment areas drawn up within the single
admission authority. Simply on the admissions issue, to improve
admissions, selection by general ability should be phased out.
There are other reasons one might consider, but if you wanted
to improve admissions then that would improve it. Then the main
one for me would be the resources following the child, the harder
to educate child.
Chairman: This has been a most interesting
and informative session. We are very grateful. If you have any
thoughts on the train, on the bus or at any time over the next
days and hours that you would want to communicate to the Committee,
will you please communicate with us here by any method that suits
you.
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