The Role of Residence in School Segregation

Placing the Impact of Parental Choice in Perspective

Bibliographic Data

ID4140965
AuthorsChris Taylor (0000-0002-9146-9167, Cardiff University, corresponding author), Stephen Gorard (0000-0002-9381-5991, Cardiff University)
Year2001
Volume33
Issue10
Pages1829-1852
Publication date2001-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironment and Planning A Economy and Space (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0308-518X • E-ISSN: 1472-3409
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1068/a34123
OpenAlexW2134180390
LanguageEN
Citations received35
References cited37

There have been many claims that the introduction of parental choice for schools in the United Kingdom would lead to further socioeconomic segregation between schools. However, little evidence of this has actually emerged. Instead during the first half of the 1990s, in particular, the number of children living in poverty became more equally distributed between UK secondary schools. Part of the explanation for this lies with the prior arrangements for allocating children to schools, typically based upon designated catchment areas. In this paper we argue that the degree of residential segregation that exists in England ensured that schools were already highly segregated before the introduction of market reforms to education, and has continued to be the chief determinant of segregation since. We then suggest that the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, which advocates a return to the use of catchment areas and distance to school when allocating places in oversubscribed schools, may be leading inadvertently to increased socioeconomic segregation between schools

Demographic economics · Economic growth · Economics · Political science · Poverty · Residence · School choice · Socioeconomic status · Sociology · Demography · Education Systems and Policy · Law · School Choice and Performance · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies

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