School admission criteria ‘disproportionately penalises’ poorer students, University of Bristol research finds

By Ellen Landale, News Subeditor

The research was funded by the Nuffield Foundation, and said that 88 per cent of secondary schools base their entry selection criteria on where pupils live. 

Simon Burgess, Professor of Economics at the University of Bristol and lead author explained how this leads to inequality in school admissions: 

‘Our unique data clearly shows how schools’ geographic admissions criteria are effectively ruling out certain pupils.’  

‘In a nutshell, desirable schools generate substantial house price premiums in their catchment areas, so this admissions criteria disproportionately penalises pupils from poorer households.’ 

Local authorities previously determined school admissions criteria, but changes such as the introduction of free school meals and the expansion of academies mean that this is no longer the case.

Families now submit a list of their preferred schools, and then oversubscribed institutions, often those with stronger academic performance, select pupils according to their own admissions criteria. 

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The report analysed data from more than 550,000 pupils attending 3250 schools across England. It found that fewer than one in five pupils eligible for free school meals were enrolled in a ‘highly effective school’.

To help address this inequality, the report examined the potential impact of different reforms to school admissions criteria.

It showed that giving priority to pupils eligible for free school meals, allocating them up to 15 per cent of places in each school, would reduce this inequality whilst not causing widespread disruption to current school allocations. 

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Co-author of the report, Mariagrazia Cavallo, a postdoctoral researcher at the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research, said according to modelling that this change could reduce the gap between ‘disadvantaged’ and ‘advantaged’ students by 17 per cent, without greatly disrupting admissions.

‘It was surprising how effective a simple free school meal quota policy would be,’ said fellow co-author Estelle Cantillon, Professor of Economics at the Free University of Brussels.

Featured Image: Epigram / Hanno Sie