Education and Social Justice

The Changing Composition of Schools and its Implications

Stephen Gorard

‘ . . . highly important and a significant contribution to educational research  . . .  This is all fascinating stuff and makes a surprisingly coherent whole.’ (TES)

‘In this lovely book Stephen Gorard exposes much of that bad research and illuminates the way in which it receives prominence . . . He writes engagingly and accessibly and his exegesis makes for a good, if disturbing, read . . . a very important book.’ (British Educational Research Journal)

‘This book is both interesting and provocative . . . an important book in two respects. First, it challenges a number of misapprehensions and damaging misrepresentations of Welsh education. Gorard’s defence of Welsh comprehensive schools is especially robust. Second, this book should certainly be included on reading lists for education research methods courses.’ Educational Review

Many commentators see a crisis approaching in British education. The prevailing view seems to be that educational participation and performance in Britain have become more and more polarized in the 1990s. The apparently poor standards of attainment among British students (especially when compared to other developed countries), growing differences between the best and the worst schools and increasing stratification in terms of attendance and performance between different social groups suggest that Britain is in danger of starting the twenty-first century with an education system characterized by worsening systematic unfairness in opportunities.

Stephen Gorard, on the other hand, claims that a closer examination of the relevant data reveals a very different story. Based around original proportionate analyses of national datasets of all students in all schools in England and Wales, Education and Social Justice challenges the common picture of British education in ‘crisis’, and suggests that there is no substantial evidence of international or regional underperformance and increasing injustice.

Education and Social Justice provides a wide-ranging and original reappraisal of the issues of quality and justice in British education and comes to the conclusion that there is much to be lauded about the standard of education in Britain which is, in turn, leading to greater social justice.

Stephen Gorard is Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University.

Contents

Figures and Tables
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations

I. Introducing Alternative Accounts of the 'Crisis' in Education

'A Plague on All our Schools'
An Alternative Account
The Politician's Error and Changes Over Time
A Worked Example of Reanalysis

2. The Social Composition of Schools

Evidence for Increasing Segregation
Another View of School Allocation
The Smithfield Study in New Zealand
Conclusion

3. Investigating Segregation between Schools 1988-1998

Methods Used to Investigate Segregation
Segregation between Schools since 1988
The Implications of a Proportionate Analysis
What is Driving this Process?
Simpson's Paradox
Conclusions

4. School Effects and International Comparisons

Failing and Falling Standards in England and Wales?

Failure in Wales?
Falling Standards?
Problems of Assessment
The Difficulties of International Comparisons
Third International Mathematics and Science Study
What Difference does a School Make?
International Indicators
Conclusion

5. Investigating the Performance of National School Systems

Wales and England
Methods Used
Re-evaluating the Welsh School Effect
Results for the 1994 Local Education Authorities
Results for the 1998 Unitary Authorities
The Implications

6. Differences between Groups of Schools

Best and Worst
Fee-paying and State-funded
Grant-maintained and LEA-controlled
Coeducation and Single-sex
English- and Welsh-medium
An Alternative Comparison of the Sectors
Conclusion

7. Investigating Differences between School Sectors

The Nature of the Intake at Welsh-medium Schools
Method for Investigating Differences between Sectors
The Relative Effectiveness of Two Types of School
The 1996 Model
The 1998 Model
The Implications

8. Achievement Gaps between Groups of Students

Growing Gaps in Attainment
An Alternative Interpretation of the Gaps
Assessing the Polarization of Students

9. Investigating the Differential Attainment of Boys and Girls

Methods Used to Investigate the Gender Gap
Subject-specific Findings
Aggregate Findings
Summary of Findings
The Implications

10. Putting it All Together: Education and Social Justice

Was there a Golden Age?
Plethora of Remedies
Educational Research
Problems that Remain
Society is to Blame
Conclusion

Appendices
Appendix A Further Comments on the Smithfield Study
Appendix B Comparing Three Indices of Segregation
Appendix C Examining the Paradox of Achievement Gaps
Appendix D Subject Groupings
Appendix E Alternative Versions of the Achievement Gap

Bibliography
Index