An approach to understanding school attendance difficulties: pupils' perceptions of parental behaviour in response to their requests to be absent from school

The UK government has encouraged schools and local authorities to promote school attendance because of its associations with academic attainment and antisocial behaviour. Legislation makes school attendance a parental responsibility. This small‐scale study collected data on parent–child interaction immediately prior to school absence to examine how such interaction influenced the development of attendance difficulties. Good and poor school attenders, of 12–13 years of age, were compared on quantifiable measures of their self‐reported requests to be absent from school, their perceived parents' responses, self‐reported whole‐day and lesson truancy, and expected parental reaction to truancy. School absence requests were significantly more frequent among the poor attenders, who gained more absence and whose parents were inconsistent in their responses to the requests. Education social work/welfare services and school pastoral staff need well‐formulated methods, backed by empirical research, if they are to work effectively with parents and young people and substantially raise their low attendance.     

Reputation and parental logics of action in local school choice space in Finland

Differences in reputation between schools and in classes within schools shape parental choice in the Finnish urban context, even if the differences in school performance and the risks of making a ‘bad’ choice are relatively small. This study analyses the instrumental and expressive orders of schools in a specific educational context. Two overlapping local school choice spaces emerge: the local space of school catchment areas, and the selective space of the city in interaction with neighbouring cities. Entry into the selective space requires different forms of parental capital, and may reproduce educational and social distinctions. Institutions that provide less future exchange value according to the parental conceptions, with socially and ethnically mixed student populations and low expectations of pupils’ contentment are seen to be worth avoiding. The discussion on the choice between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ schools seems to be superficial and to conceal certain educational reproduction processes, which do not officially exist in the Finnish education system. Choosing between classes (general and classes with special emphasis) within a school also works as a distinction strategy.     

Gender,science choice and achievement: a Maltese perspective

Drawing on a number of studies, this paper explores gender differentials in the choice of science subjects at secondary school level, factors influencing choice, differences in achievement and recruitment to science courses at a higher level in the particular educational context of the Maltese Islands. In this context all secondary schools are single‐sex, the state system is highly centralized, selection and streaming are widely practised, a high proportion of students (25%) attend private schools, and physics is compulsory. The results show that: more girls than boys study physics and biology at the lower secondary level (ages 11‐16); more boys study chemistry; achievement at this level is on a par in biology and chemistry; girls achieve slightly lower in physics. At the upper secondary level (ages 16‐18), almost equal numbers of boys and girls study biology and chemistry but boys predominate in physics. Girls avoid the option of physics and mathematics, a popular choice with boys. Consequently, at tertiary level very few girls opt for courses in engineering and prefer to subscribe to courses relating to medicine.     

Faith schools,social capital and academic attainment: Evidence from TIMSS‐R mathematics scores in Flemish secondary schools

Social capital theory, recent developments in the theory of identity and a small econometric literature all suggest positive attainment effects from faith schooling. To test this hypothesis, the authors use a unique data set on Flemish secondary school students from the 1999 repeat of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study to estimate an education production function. The results suggest modest attainment benefits in mathematics when schools are influenced by faith communities but not when they are influenced by trade unions or business groups. The authors estimate models with exogenous and endogenous switching to investigate the robustness of this result to school selection policy and parental/student self‐selection. These additional results not only suggest that the positive attainment effects of faith schooling do not reflect selection bias but also provide evidence suggesting that such attainment effects reflect forms of social capital that are more readily available in faith schools than in non‐faith schools. However, the limitations of social capital theory and evidence caution against radical policy conclusions.     

School Catchments and Pupil Movements: A case study in parental choice

Although parental choice of secondary schools is a subject of considerable public and academic interest, there has been relatively little research on the extent to which choice is undermining the traditional role of geographically defined school catchments. This paper, therefore, uses data provided by a case-study local education authority to examine the nature and scale of pupil flows across catchment boundaries. It does so by adopting a form of Geographic Information System as the principal research tool. The results show over a third of Year 7 pupils moving to schools other than their catchment comprehensive. Interestingly, the inner-city catchments were the most permeable: by contrast, children in middle class and rural areas were the least likely to enter a school outside their local area.     

Children’s education rights at the transition to secondary education: School choice in Northern Ireland

The principles of school choice and diverse provision underpin transition to secondary education in a majority of countries. This article focuses on the potential for structural diversity to constrain rather than promote choice. Although intended to improve equity in access and quality of provision, choice-based systems serve to homogenise school intakes and magnify attainment differences between schools. School choice decisions become high-stakes in such contexts, because eventual school placements influence the future character of children’s schooling. In Northern Ireland, existing community divisions are reflected in the available school types, with a majority of places at either Catholic or de facto Protestant schools, and only a small number at Integrated schools. This results in high levels of homogenisation along community lines. In addition, the provision of separate grammar and non-grammar schools means that intakes are also academically stratified, resulting in the extreme between-school attainment differences characteristic of systems arranged in this way. Drawing on documentary evidence and a survey of transition-age children, this research discusses how school choice within structurally complex systems can be constrained. The main focus is on how children’s education rights, as set down in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, are placed at risk by the interaction of system-level divisions. It concludes that school choice arrangements in Northern Ireland do not operate in compliance with children’s education rights when tested against each of the requirements set out in Tomasevski’s 4-As scheme, namely that education provision must be available, accessible, acceptable and adaptable.     

Patterns of ‘public‐school markets’ in the Finnish comprehensive school from a comparative perspective

The article examines school choice in the context of the Finnish, publicly owned and governed comprehensive school system, the ‘named public‐school markets’, and compares findings to similar studies done in other countries. Parental choice is used in addition to traditional catchment areas and has now settled in the educational policy of big cities since its introduction in Finland in the mid 1990s. The focus of this article is on the extent and direction of pupils' preferences between the schools in relation to the characteristics of the schools in order to understand what kind of patterns have been formed along with the school choice. At the turn of the year 2000, half of the age group transferring to the 7th grade applied for a place in an other than catchment area school in the capital city, and on average one‐third of those in the other four big cities. The local public school markets touched every school in the urban areas. The schools were divided into popular, rejected, and balanced schools on the basis of net gains in request flows. A detailed analysis of the preferences between schools is presented in a map. Patterns of operation of the local school markets in the four case cities showed astoundingly similar features to those reported in studies conducted in other countries.     

School Choice and the Polarization of Public Schools in A Global City: A Bourdieusian GIS Approach

ABSTRACT

Over the past three decades, urban sociologists have shed light on the intensifying social inequality between the wealthiest and poorest neighborhoods in global cities; yet limited research has been done to illuminate the relationships between urban polarization and school choice (i.e., where parents choose schools for their children). This study sociospatially examines the patterns of secondary school choice in the global city of Toronto to illuminate the relationship between urban polarization and school choice. In doing so, this study combines Pierre Bourdieu’s sociospatial theory with a geographic information systems (GIS) approach. Overall, we found that popular schools and schools with specialized choice programs tend to be located in high-status neighborhoods, defined as neighborhoods with residents in the top 20% of family income, home prices, education attainment, and representation from the dominant culture. We also show that mobile students who choose popular schools or highly sought-after specialized programs tend to come from advantaged neighborhoods. Meanwhile, local students who choose a regular school in their neighborhood tend to come from low-status neighborhoods. With a new interdisciplinary approach, this study contributes to a more spatialized understanding of how social inequality and polarization account for school choice.     

Parental risk attitudes and children's secondary school track choice

Although it is well-known that individuals’ risk attitudes are related to behavioral outcomes such as smoking, portfolio decisions, and educational attainment, there is virtually no evidence of whether parental risk attitudes affect the educational attainment of their dependent children. We add to this literature and examine children's secondary school track choice in Germany where tracking occurs at age ten and has a strong binding character. Using risk indicators for different domains, we mainly find evidence of an inverse relation between parental risk aversion and children's secondary school track, with some heterogeneity depending on whether parents’ risk willingness is modeled separately or jointly, by child gender, or by the risk measure used.     

Do parental attitudes toward and expectations for their children's education and future jobs matter for their children's school achievement?

The traditional discourse in the scholarship on cultural capital theory has focused on how exclusive participation in elite status culture by students from higher socioeconomic status families benefits their learning in schools, the effects of which are most evident in linguistic subject areas such as reading achievement. However, some scholars have argued that cultural capital is not restricted to elite status culture but could include parental familiarity with school evaluation standards and job market requirements, and that the effects could transcend languages to include performance domains with more objective evaluation that are susceptible to school influences (e.g. mathematics and science). The present study systematically examines this position using data involving 96,591 15‐year‐old students from 3602 schools in eight countries who participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment 2012. Results of three‐level hierarchical linear modelling showed positive relationships between seven cultural capital variables and student mathematics achievement. The cultural variables comprised: home educational resources; parental educational attainment and occupational status; parental expectations of their children's educational attainment, future career in mathematics and school; and parental valuing of mathematics. In particular, the three parental expectations variables had substantively larger effect sizes on student achievement than the other cultural capital variables. The results demonstrated that parental familiarity with school evaluation standards and future job requirements, especially as measured by parental expectations, may constitute cultural capital that privileges student mathematics achievement in schools.     

The impact of Teach First on pupil attainment at age 16

We evaluate whether the placement of Teach First's inexperienced new teachers into secondary schools with recruitment difficulties in disadvantaged areas in England has raised or lowered pupil attainment at the age of 16. Our matched difference‐in‐difference panel estimation approach compares the experiences of 168 schools participating early on in the scheme to those in the same region who will go on to participate in later years. We find the programme has not been damaging to these schools who joined and most likely produced school‐wide gains in GCSE results of around one grade in one of the pupils’ best eight subjects. Similarly, we estimate departmental gains of over 5% of a subject grade resulting from placing a Teach First participant in a teaching team of six teachers. The estimation approach cannot assert whether these gains arise solely through the greater teaching quality of Teach First participants compared to those they displace, or whether spillovers raise standards across the department or somehow change the ethos within the school.     

School Organization and Market Ecology: a realist sociological look at the infrastructure of school choice

Programs of school choice are based largely on the idea of a free market’. Recent reform efforts have been based on the assumption that market‐driven educational systems would bring higher achievement levels and greater satisfaction among clients. According to popular views, parents would shop for a school just as they do for any other commodity and competition between schools would ensue, with each school trying to improve itself thereby attracting consumers. There is a major drawback to this reasoning. Markets are rarely completely free from regulation and control, and the desires of individuals do not fully explain the social facts of school choice. As a complement to current school choice studies, a structural explanation of school choice within the theory of network analysis is presented. The study analyses choice in terms of inter‐school student transfers and explains choice as the combined result of two factors. The first is the organization of student mobility in schools, in terms of vacant positions (timing and volume) and student body composition, which posits nine ideal types of school organization. The second factor is the ecology of the market, given in the number of schools in each type. Research conducted in a large city in Israel serves as an example for the approach. The more general implications of the study suggest directions for the theoretical refinement of mobility and attainment studies in sociology.     

Choosing a faith school in Leicester: admissions criteria,diversity and choice

ABSTRACT

Religion in Britain is in overall decline and ‘no religion’ is growing, but one-third of schools in the State sector in England and Wales are ‘schools with a religious designation’ (‘faith schools’). Historically, these were Protestant and Catholic Church schools, but new faith schools have been established by Churches and other faiths. Governments of all parties have encouraged this development, chiefly on the grounds of increased parental choice and improved quality.

The research presented here provides evidence about the operation of faith schools in the English city of Leicester in 2016, particularly from the perspective of those choosing a school. The main objectives are (1) to indicate the diversity of faith schools, (2) to show how they present themselves to those looking for a school: their admission requirements and level of educational attainment and (3) to reflect on the claim that faith schooling offers more and better choice and quality. Leicester is selected for its size and diversity; it is small enough to study with the resources available to us and is one of the most multi-ethnic and multifaith urban areas in England. Research was carried out between February and July 2016 and offers a snapshot from that year.     

A Panic about School Choice

It is now widely recognised that Britain's comprehensive system was never truly comprehensive. Families with sufficient financial capital were always able to ensure the entry of their children to particularly prestigious ‘comprehensive’ schools by purchasing a home within the appropriate catchment areas. According to government rhetoric, recent legislation established a market of schools, removed catchment areas and gave parents greater choice of school. This case‐study examines the workings of the local quasi‐market of schools within a prosperous town (Sutton Coldfield, England) which is part of the larger metropolitan area of the West Midlands. Because of a change in the age of entry to secondary education, Sutton Coldfield was first plunged into the market in 1992. This case‐study shows that the new situation initially caused confusion and anger. Some Sutton Coldfield residents were denied places for their children within the town and were instead offered places for their children in Birmingham working‐class estate schools. The article describes the formation and activities of a local pressure group which opposed these changes, and reports the results of a small‐scale study of a sample of parents’ choice‐making processes in 1993. It is shown that access to financial and cultural capital had become more, rather than less, important in the process of allocating children to secondary schools.     

Notes on contributors

Social cohesion in school is reflected in social discrimination processes and the complementary social roles of teachers, pupils, other staff and pupils' relatives. School social cohesion varies in level from high, characterised by prosocial interactions, to low, characterised by antisocial or violent interactions. Antisocial behaviour is usually embedded in specific interaction patterns between different social actors and is based on specific motives or stereotypes that elicit or justify this behaviour. Comprehensive study of these patterns is enabled by information and communication technology (ICT). The aim of this study is to use ICT to investigate social interaction patterns between personal and school characteristics of secondary school teachers and their curricular and disciplinary characteristics and experience of violence, including the motives they perceive when they are the victim, perpetrator or witness of six types of violence, differentiated according to the complementary roles of pupils, other teachers, other school staff and pupils' relatives. Three questionnaires were developed and used in a nationwide Internet‐based survey in Dutch secondary schools. This school safety monitor was completed in 2006 by 5148 teachers, 80,770 pupils, 1749 educational support staff and 629 school managers. Data were checked for reliability, scale homogeneity and representativeness. Pearson correlation analysis was used to examine the social interaction patterns in teachers' data. The results reveal violence‐specific social behaviour and social‐mirroring processes between teachers and pupils in particular. Furthermore, teachers who are younger, female or working in low‐attainment educational settings apply more curricular differentiation and collaborate more with pupils on disciplinary matters than their respective counterparts. Teachers who work in low‐attainment schools, who work in cities, who are homosexual/lesbian or who do not feel most at home in The Netherlands experience more violent behaviour as a victim or witness than their respective counterparts. In particular, teachers attribute the following motives to violence: physical appearance, behaviour, level of school achievement, a handicap, being religious, gender, sexual preference and ways of dealing with non‐conforming behaviour or punishments. Compared to teachers, pupils gave a broad array of motives for every type of violence. The conclusion is that Internet‐based data‐collection procedures provide a more comprehensive and systematic picture of social discrimination and violence motive patterns in schools than has hitherto been customary.     

Veiled and overt school choice: A consideration of the ways in which different forms of school choice affect student experiences

Parental choice of secondary schools is central to the Labour Government's education agenda. This article draws on work from an Economic and Social Research Council funded study considering teachers' and students' perspectives and experiences of choice in two locales. Two distinct ways in which choice operates are identified: overt choice, which is parental choice as Labour's education policy envisages it, and veiled choice, which refers to the previous more clandestine operation of parental choice. The article qualitatively explores students' experiences of choice in East Town with active parental choice, and in North Town where there is a strong tradition of attending the local school. For some students who do not get into their chosen school, choice appears to be having negative effects on their experiences of school, whilst choice has positive effects when students attend a school they actively chose and one which is viewed positively by the community.     

What is the evidence on the impact of Pupil Premium funding on school intakes and attainment by age 16 in England?

The use of targeted additional funding for school-age education, intended to improve student attainment, is a widespread phenomenon internationally. It is slightly rarer that the funding is used to improve attainment specifically for the most disadvantaged students – often via trying to attract teachers to poorer areas, or encouraging families to send their children to school. It is even rarer that funding is used to try and reduce the attainment gap between economically disadvantaged students and their peers, and almost unheard for the funding to be intended to change the nature of school intakes by making disadvantaged students more attractive to schools. These last two were the objectives set for Pupil Premium funding to schools in England. The funding started in 2011, for all state-funded schools at the same time, so there is no easy counterfactual to help assess how effective it has been. The funding is a considerable investment every year and it is therefore important to know whether it works as intended. This paper presents a time series analysis of all students at secondary school in England from 2006, well before the funding started, until 2019, the most recent year for which there are attainment figures. It overcomes concerns that the official attainment gap between students labelled disadvantaged and the rest is sensitive to demographic, economic, legal and other concurrent policy changes. It does this by looking at a stable group of long-term disadvantaged students. It is argued that this group would have attracted Pupil Premium funding if it had existed in any year and under any economic conditions. After 2010, these long-term disadvantaged pupils became substantially less clustered in specific schools in their first year and throughout their remaining school life. This improvement cannot be explained by economic or other factors used in this paper, and so it looks as though the Pupil Premium has been effective here. The picture for the attainment gap at age 16 is more mixed. It is partly confused by changes in the grading of assessments in 2014 and again from 2016. The reasons why the improvements are less clear than at primary school are discussed, and they involve the nature of evidence available to secondary schools to help them improve the attainment of their most disadvantaged students.