The reality of school place preference – parental views

Abstract

This thesis captures parents lived experiences of engaging with the English School Admissions process and system at Secondary School admission stage. The purpose of seeking parental voice was to analyse whether the systemic right to express preference regarding school place allocation is a myth or a reality for all. New learning is offered to personalise and bring to life the existing literature that already demonstrates how the current school place allocation process disadvantages certain identifiable cohorts of parents. Parents and Admissions Managers’ opinions and experiences are presented against the backdrop of quantitative data acquired from one hundred Local Authorities using Freedom of Information requests and nationally published data sets. Semi-structured in-depth interviews with parents (from West London and neighbouring counties, representing both genders, a range of ethnicities and faiths or none) and Local Authority Admissions Managers, augmented by parental questionnaires and online anonymous parent surveys demonstrate the mixed methods approach to the design of this research. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Haidt’s moral foundations and Bourdieu’s theory of capital were drawn upon to inform this work. Key findings highlight a stressful and emotional experience for parent participants regarding their own School Admissions episode. Also, that despite limited economic and social capital, some parents make significant personal and financial sacrifices to optimise their chances of securing a preferred school place for their children. Another key finding is the expectation from School Admissions Managers that all parents are responsible for researching the schools that are ‘realistically’ available to them, which is premised on the assumption that all parents have the necessary capital at their disposal in order to conduct such research. Recommendations are offered based on new knowledge acquired from parents’ voices, for policy makers and enactors’ consideration to better meet the aspirations of all parents and their children, regardless of economic means. Recommendations also consider the possible benefits of improved home school partnerships to address the disproportionate rates of absence, exclusion and poorer attainment of children from economically disadvantaged families. This thesis offers a reflection on the current reality of education as the vehicle for social mobility which several politicians have publicly aspired to over the last fifty years.