Early education provision in the state-maintained sector has historically played an important role in ensuring equitable access to high-quality early education in England. These settings have higher qualification requirements than other providers, and as they have been concentrated in areas of higher disadvantage, children from lower income…

Many countries have introduced flexibility in their admissions equivalents for tertiary education, allowing students to apply with vocational rather than academic qualifications at upper secondary level. However, entrants with vocational qualifications are generally less likely to succeed at university. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds are…

Supporters and critics of free schools in England have had differing expectations about whether free schools would emerge in socially disadvantaged areas, and whether they would become socially selective. We investigate the outcomes, using information from the first three years since the introduction of the first new schools in 2011, drawn from…

School leaders in highly disadvantaged urban communities across the globe walk a tightrope, caught between the needs of communities and the requirements of national policies. This article aims to enrich our understanding of the potential of school-community relationships. It examines the policy discourse on urban schools and the practice of…

Early school-leaving exerts substantial costs on the individual and society. The literature indicates that quitting school early is predicted by an enmeshed group of indicators including academic and behavioural difficulties in school, deprived economic background and disengagement with the educational process. The attitudes and background of a…

Uses existing data to investigate differences in the rate that schools improved General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examination results from 1991-98. Finds two variables impacted examination improvement: (1) low concentration of social disadvantage relative to other local schools; and (2) starting from a low base level of GCSE…

Examines qualitative data from three case-study schools to illuminate barriers to responsiveness facing socially disadvantaged schools and impeding school improvement. Highlights cumulative impact of contextual influences, which interact with internal school factors, particularly that of local school hierarchies and processes of labelling that…

Analyzes student assessment results at Key Stage 1 in three core curriculum areas and in terms of performance across these areas. Demonstrates that background factors have differential affects on various subject attainments, raw data systematically penalize disadvantaged inner-city schools, and school policies and practices measurably affect…