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.     

School Admissions after the School Standards and Framework Act: Bringing the LEAs back in?

Historically, LEAs were responsible for the local planning and provision of schools. They 'mattered' because their organisational strategies and admissions policies contributed to the structure and equality of opportunities for families and children in their administrative areas. Some moved ahead with comprehensive schools earlier and faster than others, and some retained selection. Alongside admissions policies, these activites in turn shaped and reproduced the extent to which local schools were socially segregated. LEA capacity to shape the local school system was always constrained by the existence of the faith-based 'voluntary' schools sector and was further diminished, post-1988, by self-governing grant-maintained (GM) schools. The 1998 Schools Standards and Framework Act brought LEAs back into the admissions arena. In this paper we examine LEAs' admissions policies and the extent to which these regulate local patterns of socio-economic segregation between schools. In this study we draw on a sample of 74 LEAs to explore these issues. Our findings point to some interesting paradoxes, most notably the fact that the most commonly used criterion in the allocation of students to places, catchment areas, is likely to create and sustain socio-economically segregated patterns of secondary schooling because these are linked in complex ways to residential segregation. We also show that selective education is strongly associated with high levels of stratified schooling and that voluntary and specialist schools also contribute to local patterns of school segregation.     

Levelling the playing field between rural schools and urban schools in a HE context: A Scottish case study

At a time when interventions in widening access to, and participation in, higher education aim to maximise impact by engaging with schools located in the most deprived communities, school pupils in rural communities, and who experience deprivation, are, in practice, less likely to benefit. Using statistics available from the Scottish government, we show that state secondary schools located in Scottish remote or rural areas are not well served by the indicators capturing socio-economic, educational, or geographical deprivation widely used in the selection of schools for these outreach interventions. We construct a marker that identifies schools facing higher levels of deprivation than the Scottish average. We argue that (1) this marker is a step in the direction towards levelling the playing field between remote or rural schools and urban schools; and (2) it selects a wider range of schools for outreach interventions.     

论民族地区学校体育与健康课程内容的选择与分析

通过对民族地区学校体育与健康课程教学内容选择与分析的研究,提出学校体育与健康课程教学内容选择必须具备教材功能、满足四个学习领域目标要求、符合民族特点等条件,并运用功能分析法、特色分析法、心理分析等方法对教材进行取舍,为我国民族地区学校体育与健康课程教学内容选取提供借鉴与参考。     

西部地区义务教育阶段校际均衡发展的制度建设--以贵阳市为例

当前,我国基础教育不仅存在区域差别和城乡差别,还存在同一区域内校际之间硬件条件和生源状况的差距以及教师待遇差距。义务教育学校之间办学水平的差距,直接导致学生所接受教育质量的差距和学生发展机会上的不平等。实现西部义务教育校际均衡发展,关键在于制度建设。贵阳市在这方面进行了一些尝试,主要措施包括:改造初中薄弱校;推进中小学标准化制度建设;推进小学升初中、初中升高中的招生方式改革;加强农村中小学和农民工子女学校建设;完善校长职级制度和教师聘用制度。     

An international comparison of equity in education systems

This paper uses pupil responses to the PISA study in 2000 for all EU countries. Using indicators of the pupil intakes to schools and their outcomes it computes segregation indices for 15 countries, and then tries to explain the resulting patterns in terms of the characteristics of national school systems. Segregation by sex in each country is explicable by its provision of single‐sex schools, religious schools, and the use of academic selection in allocating school places. Segregation by outcome is largely explicable by the use of academic (and other forms of) selection. Segregation by parental occupation or country of birth is lower in countries allocating places at school through elements of choice or with relatively little governmental control of schools rather than use of rigid catchment areas or selection. In all countries there are small gaps between the performance of boys and girls in reading, in favour of girls. This gap is generally smaller in countries with the highest overall scores. Overall, the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Finland and Denmark show less segregation on all indicators, while Germany, Greece and Belgium show the most. The UK has below average segregation in terms of all indicators except sex, despite a commonly held but unfounded view that segregation in the UK is among the worst in the world.     

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.     

Shopping for schools or shopping for peers: public schools and catchment area segregation

Market theory positions the consumer as a rational choice actor, making informed schooling choices on the basis of ‘hard’ evidence of relative school effectiveness. Yet there are concerns that parents simply choose schools based on socio-demographic characteristics, thus leading to greater social segregation and undercutting the potential of choice to drive quality improvements. In this paper, we explore segregation by examining catchment areas for a range of public high schools in a specific middle-class urban area. We focus on socio-demographic characteristics, including levels of income, country of birth and religion affiliation, in order to explore residential segregation according to public high school catchment areas. Our data suggest distinct residential segregation between catchment areas for each public school within our data-set, particularly for the schools deemed to be popular and rejected, that may pose risks for broader equity concerns. We argue that, in contrast to market theory, even more affluent and active choosers are not equipped with information on the programmatic quality of their different school options, but instead may be relying on socio-demographic characteristics of schools – through surrogate information about the urban spaces that the schools occupy – in order to choose peer groups, if not programmes, for their children.     

集中力量办好农村义务教育--对大理白族自治州农村义务教育现状的思考

由于山区人口居住分散,大理白族自治州在普及义务教育中形成了教学点多而分散的局面,严重制约着现代教育的发展。要提高大理州农村义务教育的质量,必须实施现代教育方式;必须集中力量办好农村义务教育。     

推进苏北城乡教育均衡面临的问题及其对策

近年来,随着城市化进程的加快,城市和县城义务教育阶段学校的办学条件有了显著改善,但是农村学校的发展相对滞后。特别是苏北地区,农村教育与城市教育发展的不均衡性更加突出。这种城乡差异不仅表现在办学条件上,同时也反映在教育观念、管理水平等诸多方面。当前,推进义务教育整体水平的提高,首先必须加快农村义务教育阶段学校的发展,从经费、师资、管理等各方面改变农村学校的薄弱状况,努力缩小城乡差距,实现真正意义上的教育公平和均衡。     

Federalization of education in Chihuahua

This article examines the politics behind the initial centralization of primary education in Chihuahua, Mexico during the 1920s and 1930s. The article argues that the centralization of primary education was one of many tools used by the federal government to consolidate its power in the wake of the Mexican Revolution (1910–1917) and create a corporatist state. Even before the Revolution, federal officials were concerned that neither states nor municipalities were capable of providing primary education (especially in rural areas) adequate to Mexico’s needs. Even though the 1917 Constitution gave control over primary education to the municipal government, Education Ministry (SEP) officials began taking major steps in centralizing primary education under the auspices of the federal government during the administration of Alvaro Obregón (1920–1924) by subsidizing state‐run primary schools and refusing to deal with municipal governments. Under Plutarco Elías Calles (1924–1928) the SEP undermined state‐run education by annulling all existing contracts with state governments and creating a parallel federal primary schools system. The federal government also tried to gain control over federal teachers by centralizing control over grassroots unions. The SEP’s drive to centralize control over schooling reached its climax during this period with the federalization of all primary schools in Chihuahua and Queretaro in 1935.     

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.     

中高职衔接的高职公共课程改革研究

中高职衔接是现代职业教育体系对于高职课程改革的重要要求,高职公共课程改革首先应关注中高职有机衔接。本文明确了中高职衔接的公共课程改革目标,分析了中高职衔接的高职公共课程改革面临的包括人才培养方案难以体现公共课程的有机衔接、课程内容的选择标准不统一和中高职院校沟通不畅等现实问题,并提出了明确中高职教育目标、加强中高职深度对话、沟通及联合办学、采用分班分层教学等建设性意见。     

Reacting to poverty: A comparative analysis of schools in Brazilian deprived areas

Schools in the most deprived areas in Brazil are marked by extreme poverty, a situation that has obvious consequences for the everyday life in schools and for efforts to develop a supportive culture of schooling. Nevertheless, schools’ responses to poverty are far from uniform. Although the context of poverty generally determines what is possible for schools to achieve, this context is by no means consistent. Not all schools located in poor areas offer poor education. And, in themselves, unfavourable contexts do not necessarily generate educational failure. This article captures the diversity of effects generated by poverty at the school level, and the variety of responses by schools situated in very similar socioeconomic and cultural contexts. It draws on a study conducted in the state of Minas Gerais, which explored five schools and their corresponding cultures to reveal the diverse effects of poverty at the school level.     

The admissions criteria of secondary Free Schools

This paper presents the results of an analysis of the admissions criteria used by the first two waves of secondary Free Schools in England. The type of criteria and their ranked order is explored and their potential impact on the school composition is considered. The findings demonstrate the diversity of criteria being used by this new type of school and give some insight in to how Free Schools appear to be prioritising access. As Free Schools operate outside Local Authority control with regards to admissions procedures they are able to choose their own feeder schools, set their own catchment areas, prioritise particular postcode districts, guarantee places for children of the school’s founders or opt to use banding systems. Whilst the admissions policies of the majority of secondary Free Schools appear to be adhering to the 2012 Admissions Code legislation, this study highlights the influence that such criteria may have in creating intakes which are less balanced in terms of socioeconomic status, ethnicity or religious affiliation.     

成都城乡教育统筹发展的路径选择

城市教育优先发展战略强化了城乡教育发展的不平衡,成都统筹城乡教育发展以城乡教育统筹发展的路径选择为切入点,率先摒弃长期推行城市偏向的体制机制安排。通过名校集团、城乡互动发展联盟、城乡学校结对、师徒牵手、教育信息化建设、师资队伍均衡配置六大路径,纵深推进,立体覆盖,迅速提升灾后全市教育整体水平,同时也起到了探索统筹城乡教...     

German Schools and Teachers in Nineteenth‐Century South Australia

This article uses the biographies of three German teachers to explore nineteenth century German immigrants' efforts to provide education which upheld their ethnic traditions and prepared their children to take their place in the British colony of South Australia. Lutheran schools, German state schools and private schools initially performed these functions in both rural and urban areas. Once compulsory schooling was introduced in 1875, however, German state schools were marginalised as English became the only language of instruction in the rapidly expanding state school system, and many private schools closed. Rural Lutheran schools maintained their role as nurseries of the church but also accommodated the demand for English language and culture by using state school courses of instruction in many subjects. In essence, by 1900 schools were no longer the key sites for the maintenance of German language and culture in South Australia     

高职高专产学合作教育的理论与实践

高等职业教育的目标是培养适应生产、建设、管理、服务第一线需要的高等技术应用型专门人才。高等职业教育走产学合作教育之路,实现社会化办学,是大力发展我国高等职业技术教育的重要战略选择,产学合作教育的理论成果成功地向可操作性方向转移,为产学合作教育有效落实提供了保证。     

陕西省中小学体育师资队伍现状的调查与分析

运用调查法对陕西中小学体育师资队伍现状进行调查分析，其结果表明：城镇学校体育教师的数量与质量基本达到国家的有关规定与要求，农村学校（包括陕北城镇学校）体育教师学历偏低，职称评定工作滞后，尤其是农村小体育任课教师配备随意性大，并针对陕西学校体育师资队伍建设与发展的实际需要提出4点可行性建议。