tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/selective-schools-9297/articlesSelective schools – The Conversation2022-07-20T01:02:44Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1872832022-07-20T01:02:44Z2022-07-20T01:02:44ZNSW is trying to make the selective school application process fairer – but is it doing enough?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474839/original/file-20220719-24-w4gj90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C16%2C5559%2C3659&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The NSW state government has <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/major-overhaul-one-fifth-of-selective-school-places-to-go-to-disadvantaged-students-20220715-p5b1ud.html">just announced a major overhaul</a> of its selective school program. From the 2023 intake, up to 20% of the places on offer will be set aside for students from a disadvantaged background. </p>
<p>This is in response to <a href="https://theconversation.com/selective-schools-mainly-select-advantage-so-another-one-wont-ease-sydneys-growing-pains-118449">long-held concerns</a> these highly sought-after public schools were dominated by students from advantaged backgrounds. </p>
<p>But does this change do enough? How else can we ensure all students get a fair shot at a coveted selective school place? </p>
<h2>What are selective schools?</h2>
<p>Selective schools are public high schools where students sit a test in year six to be accepted in year seven. In NSW, the exam tests English, maths and “thinking skills” (largely based on logical reasoning).</p>
<p>It is very competitive to get a place. Selective schools are among the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/see-where-your-school-ranked-in-the-2021-hsc-20220117-p59oto.html">very top performers</a> in the state in year 12 exams and many parents view them as as pathway to success. </p>
<p>The number of applicants for selective high schools increased from 14,961 in 2019 to 15,660 applications for 2023 for <a href="https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-7/what-are-selective-high-schools/places-available-in-selective-high-schools">4,248 places</a>. </p>
<p>The first selective high school opened in 1849 and they include some of NSW’s oldest schools. Having increased in number since the 1980s, there are now <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/major-overhaul-one-fifth-of-selective-school-places-to-go-to-disadvantaged-students-20220715-p5b1ud.html">51 fully or partially selective schools</a> around the state (this is compared to just four in Victoria). </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-south-wales-has-48-selective-schools-while-victoria-has-4-theres-an-interesting-history-behind-this-118823">New South Wales has 48 selective schools, while Victoria has 4. There's an interesting history behind this</a>
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<p>Their aim is to provide an environment for gifted students who may not have the same stimulation in a mainstream setting, and to give them a cohort of like minds. </p>
<p>But while the curriculum may be more accelerated, the rest of the set up is just like any other public school. The teachers are public school teachers and the facilities are public school facilities. </p>
<h2>Selective schools only favour some gifted students</h2>
<p>A 2018 NSW Department of Education <a href="https://education.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/main-education/about-us/strategies-and-reports/media/documents/Review-of-Selective-Education-Access.pdf">review</a> found the selection system for selective schools needed serious updating. </p>
<p>It found “unintended barriers” in the application process may be deterring some students from disadvantaged backgrounds, Indigenous students, students with disability and students in rural and remote areas from putting their hands up. </p>
<p>Researchers, including myself, have also <a href="https://theconversation.com/selective-schools-increasingly-cater-to-the-most-advantaged-students-74151">pointed out</a> how selective high schools are among the most “socio-educationally” advantaged in the state, surpassing even prestigious private schools. Socio-educational advantage is based on parents’ education and occupation, the school’s geographic location and proportion of Indigenous students. </p>
<h2>A significant announcement … but</h2>
<p>Overall, this announcement is a very significant and positive step. This is the first time since the release of the 2018 review that the state government has tried to address these equity issues in a meaningful way.</p>
<p>But it is not the complete answer and the details matter.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/selective-schools-mainly-select-advantage-so-another-one-wont-ease-sydneys-growing-pains-118449">Selective schools mainly 'select' advantage, so another one won't ease Sydney's growing pains</a>
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<p>A key concern is getting disadvantaged students to apply for selective places, through new targeted campaigns. For example, in April the Sydney Morning Herald <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/boys-still-outnumber-girls-at-selective-schools-as-test-gets-harder-20220418-p5ae8s.html">reported</a> the number of Indigenous students applying, being offered and accepting places was at its lowest level in four years, with just 29 students accepting a spot last year compared with 48 in 2018.</p>
<p>This entire program relies on the students applying for these schools in the first place. If they don’t apply, then these places will revert back to regular applicants. </p>
<p>A spokesperson for the NSW education department says it has a “program of work in place to increase awareness […] in under-represented groups”. However, given this change has only just been announced and begins immediately (for next year’s intake) there has not been a chance to promote the new rules to disadvantaged students and their families. </p>
<h2>What about other ways to apply?</h2>
<p>If there is a broader mix of ways to identify students (beyond the application process), this would maximise the chances of students from a diverse range of backgrounds going to selective schools. </p>
<p>One way would be to allow primary schools to nominate gifted or high potential students who wouldn’t otherwise apply. After all, there will always be a cohort of disadvantaged families who just won’t have the application, or test preparation, on their radar.</p>
<h2>Then there’s the test</h2>
<p>We also need to think beyond the test itself.</p>
<p>The test has been <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/boys-still-outnumber-girls-at-selective-schools-as-test-gets-harder-20220418-p5ae8s.html">adjusted</a> to make it less “coachable”, with less emphasis on maths and more on English. But I know from my research that the coaching industry has adapted, for example, by providing students with hundreds of sample “thinking skills” questions. </p>
<p>The admissions criteria are always going to favour kids who are good at tests and who have been trained to do this particular test. This in and of itself favours families who have the time and money to train their kids up for the test. </p>
<p>The test only measures a narrow range of abilities, when the NSW government’s high potential and gifted education <a href="https://education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/policies/pd-2004-0051">policy</a> defines “potential” as not just intellectual, but also creative, social-emotional and physical. The selective schools test does not identify students with these abilities.</p>
<h2>Don’t forget the mainstream system</h2>
<p>Lastly, we can’t forget the mainstream comprehensive public school sector. </p>
<p>Inevitably, this is where the vast bulk of gifted students are taught. Providing opportunities for all gifted students requires that all public schools are able to offer acceleration and enrichment programs to those who need them. </p>
<p>The door to the selective system may have opened slightly wider, but these schools are not the only solution when it comes to educational opportunity. </p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christina Ho receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>The NSW state government has just announced a major overhaul of its selective school program. This aim is to make it fairer for children from disadvantaged backgrounds to secure a coveted spot.Christina Ho, Associate professor, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1809652022-04-14T05:39:11Z2022-04-14T05:39:11Z‘Is this really fair?’ How high school students feel about being streamed into different classes based on ‘ability’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457546/original/file-20220412-22-blem13.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C15%2C3354%2C2218&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/data/">Many</a> Australian schools still use “streaming”, where students are separated into classes based on ability. However, not all students see streaming as beneficial.</p>
<p>My <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2022.2030396">research</a>, published in the journal Research Papers in Education, found streaming caused some students to feel unduly pressured, privileged, disempowered, and misunderstood. </p>
<p>Some students in higher-ability classes said they felt more confident and motivated, but students in lower streams reported conforming to teachers’ low expectations for achievement. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/selective-schools-mainly-select-advantage-so-another-one-wont-ease-sydneys-growing-pains-118449">Selective schools mainly 'select' advantage, so another one won't ease Sydney's growing pains</a>
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<h2>Students see less opportunity in lower streams</h2>
<p>In Australia, there is no official educational policy on streaming (also known as tracking, setting, or “between-class ability grouping”). Schools make local decisions about if and how to stream students. </p>
<p>My recent research in Western Australia shows students themselves can experience the inequity embedded in streaming. I followed 25 year 10 students across their school days for one week of school. I did more than 100 interviews with the students and conducted 175 classroom observations.</p>
<p>The research revealed some students in lower streams found their learning opportunities were limited. Student in the higher streams had different exams, assignments, grading, and excursions than students in lower streams.</p>
<p>Ryan* discussed how in the higher stream, they “got to build roller coasters” while students in the lower stream were “just building bridges.” </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457570/original/file-20220412-37887-odlbp9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457570/original/file-20220412-37887-odlbp9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457570/original/file-20220412-37887-odlbp9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457570/original/file-20220412-37887-odlbp9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457570/original/file-20220412-37887-odlbp9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457570/original/file-20220412-37887-odlbp9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457570/original/file-20220412-37887-odlbp9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/457570/original/file-20220412-37887-odlbp9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The research revealed some students in lower streams found their learning opportunities were limited.</span>
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<p>Students also expressed frustration their capacity to succeed was limited by streaming. </p>
<p>Jerome said that in a lower streamed class</p>
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<p>The highest mark you can get in that class is a C!</p>
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<p>Moving up between streams highlighted the difference for students too. Curt remembered it was like he “skipped a year.” </p>
<p>Krissy said “there is a big gap of knowledge” when you “move up” to a higher stream. </p>
<p>Some students in higher streams welcomed the challenge of more difficult learning and extra opportunities. They felt motivated by the additional opportunities and, as Jenny put it, “wanted to be pushed” because it made them “feel good about themselves.”</p>
<p>For other students, streaming felt restrictive. These students felt their teachers saw them in a way that didn’t match how they saw themselves.</p>
<h2>Not seen as individuals</h2>
<p>Many students felt their teachers had conceptualised their ability because of the streamed class they were in, rather than seeing them as individuals. </p>
<p>Being expected to perform at a higher level academically felt constrictive and unwelcome for some students. </p>
<p>Jessica, for instance, resisted being told to do more difficult work in higher streams. When her teacher told her the work she was doing was Year 11 work she responded by thinking</p>
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<p>Why can’t we do Year 10 work? What happened to the Year 10 work?</p>
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<p>Other higher stream students also felt unmotivated by being assigned work they found too difficult. Rochelle avoided her maths teacher and the learning, saying:</p>
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<p>Some of the math, she’s like doing stuff on the board and I’m just like [wide eyes] oh my God. This is too hard […] If I don’t get it, I’m like, I lose motivation.</p>
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<p>Students in lower streams complied with their teachers’ low expectations for learning. Jerome said his teacher</p>
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<p>[…] understands what class we’re in, like everyone’s just, no one really cares. So she does understand if I don’t really focus that much.</p>
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<p>Many of these students felt they didn’t fit in with the teachers’ homogeneous expectations for streamed classes.</p>
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<span class="caption">Students in lower streams complied with their teachers’ low expectations for learning, the research found.</span>
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<h2>Calling out inequity</h2>
<p>Not all students accepted streaming. Some felt undue pressure and privilege in higher streamed classes. </p>
<p>Jessica noticed she and her classmates in higher streamed classes sometimes had to do extra tests her friends in different classes got to skip.</p>
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<p>It’s really like, ‘is this really fair?’ Because I’m getting all this extra stress, and like, it’s helping me, but it’s not like 100%.</p>
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<p>Sarah noticed students in the higher streams “had the privilege to go on a lot of excursions” while students in lower steams didn’t. She said she thought it’d be better if there was no streaming.</p>
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<p>I don’t think there should be a (higher streamed) class […] I think it’s better with everyone fair, and everyone should do the same.</p>
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<p>These students questioned the fairness of streaming, even while acknowledging the privileges of being in the higher streamed class. </p>
<h2>Poor behaviour in lower streams makes learning harder</h2>
<p>Poor behaviour in lower streams made it difficult for students already struggling at school.</p>
<p>Asher, who was in a lower streamed class, said:</p>
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<p>They’re not learning because they’re always mucking around, and it takes away from everyone else’s ability to learn because the teacher’s preoccupied dealing with them […] And we’re behind a whole assessment because of the people in our class.</p>
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<p>Other students described their peers in lower streams as “naughty”, “noisy”, “rowdy” or “messing around.”</p>
<p>Students in higher streamed classes noticed and appreciated how being streamed protected them from poor behaviour of students in the lower streams. Rochelle said she’d felt “distracted” in the lower streams, but since moving the higher stream found “things have changed […] my class is pretty good.”</p>
<p>Since moving to the higher streamed class, Curt noticed “everyone focuses.” This had not been his experience in the lower streamed classes. </p>
<p>Clustering students who have difficulty achieving at school can lead to more <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13674">behaviour problems</a> in lower streamed groups.</p>
<h2>Streaming can perpetuate disadvantage</h2>
<p>A growing body of research has identified a link between streaming and equity issues. </p>
<p>Critics of streaming <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tItvMjRxL_c">say</a> it is an ineffective way to cater to the varied needs of students and that it can perpetuate <a href="https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/berj.3321">social inequality</a> (because students from lower socio-economic backgrounds and minorities are often placed in “bottom” groups, where their opportunities to learn are <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=CjKoDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=segregation+ability+disadvantage+streaming+tracking+ability+grouping&ots=Pgy0hXL_Tj&sig=w0bfNYJ2oqrAZRdrteEfZwTtnKU#v=onepage&q&f=false">limited</a>).</p>
<p>Education researcher John Hattie has said streaming (or “tracking”) says to kids that “this is where you perform” and it presents equity issues.</p>
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<p>Yet, teachers in Australia often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2017.1347494">believe</a> streaming is beneficial because it allows them to meet students’ learning needs more effectively.</p>
<h2>So what should educators do?</h2>
<p>Schools, educators and policymakers making decisions about streaming should consider students’ experiences and take into account how streaming helps <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=CjKoDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=francis+ability+grouping&ots=Pgy0jVFYSq&sig=hlvgKFfTqpkDtHrsO9q1Rd9FH_A#v=onepage&q=francis%20ability%20grouping&f=false">perpetuate</a> cycles of disadvantage. Policymakers could look to <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/sites/ioe/files/dos_and_donts_of_attainment_grouping_-_ucl_institute_of_education.pdf">guidelines</a> aimed at reducing the inequality associated with it. </p>
<p>All students deserve the opportunity to learn well and to confront limiting expectations and prove them wrong. My research shows students want to be taught and seen as individuals – unconstrained by labels and assumptions. </p>
<p>We should take care adults’ socially-contrived notions of student “ability” don’t place limits on their capacity to succeed at school.</p>
<p><em>* All names have been changed to protect the students’ identities.</em></p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/more-stress-unclear-gains-are-selective-schools-really-worth-it-160762">More stress, unclear gains: are selective schools really worth it?</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180965/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olivia Johnston has previously received research funding from the Fogarty Foundation, the Western Australian Institute for Educational Research, and the Australian government Research Training Program. This story is part of The Conversation's Breaking the Cycle series, which is about escaping cycles of disadvantage. It is supported by a philanthropic grant from the Paul Ramsay Foundation.</span></em></p>Some students in higher-ability classes said they felt more confident and motivated, but students in lower streams reported conforming to teachers’ low expectations for achievement.Olivia Johnston, Lecturer, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1607622021-06-16T20:06:57Z2021-06-16T20:06:57ZMore stress, unclear gains: are selective schools really worth it?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406369/original/file-20210615-3582-xsa40q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/students-taking-admission-test-exam-room-1455435644">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Thousands of primary and secondary students in Sydney and <a href="https://www.education.vic.gov.au/parents/going-to-school/Pages/selective-entry-high-schools.aspx">Melbourne</a> are preparing for selective entrance exams. If successful, students will gain entry into a <a href="https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-7">selective secondary school</a>, with other high-achievers, or an “<a href="https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-5/what-are-opportunity-classes">opportunity class</a>”, which is an academic stream for years 5 and 6 in a mixed-ability primary school. </p>
<p>Fully selective and partially selective schools in New South Wales and Victoria are part of the government school sector. They charge minimal fees compared to non-government schools.</p>
<p>But unlike regular government schools that prioritise students living in their catchment zone, selective schools enrol only the highest achieving students based on the outcomes of a competitive entrance exam. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/school-catchment-zones-may-be-annoying-for-some-parents-but-they-help-ensure-equality-for-everyone-160252">School catchment zones may be annoying for some parents, but they help ensure equality for everyone</a>
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<p>Selective schools are known for being consistently high-performing, producing some of the highest final-year secondary school outcomes. The chances of getting into a selective school depends on yearly demand. But are they actually worth it?</p>
<h2>Why do families choose selective schools?</h2>
<p>Research <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781137483522">shows families choose</a> selective schools for many reasons. </p>
<p>Parents are often drawn to them because their students produce good Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) scores. These then ensure they can get into the university course of their choice.</p>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781137483522">migrant parents believe</a> their education opportunities were limited or disrupted in their home countries, or during migration. When settled in Australia, these families may be drawn to high-performing schools that select talented and hard-working students.</p>
<p>Parents who have migrated to Australia from overseas also often cite a mix of <a href="https://www.mup.com.au/books/aspiration-and-anxiety-paperback-softback">high aspirations and anxiety</a> about the future — related to university entry, job security and racial discrimination in the workplace — as their main reasons for choosing selective schools.</p>
<p>Selective schools aim to offer opportunities “<a href="https://selectivehighschools.education/">for all</a>” academically talented students, regardless of their social or cultural backgrounds, or where they live. They seek to enact the ethos of equal opportunity through various practices. For example, the entrance exam comprises aptitude style questions to test students’ natural abilities. And private tutoring to prepare for the entrance exams is discouraged.</p>
<p>Despite this, the types of students enrolled in selective schools are not representative of the population. Selective schools <a href="https://cpd.org.au/2018/07/institutionalised-separation/">predominantly enrol</a> socially advantaged students from ethnic minority backgrounds.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/selective-schools-mainly-select-advantage-so-another-one-wont-ease-sydneys-growing-pains-118449">Selective schools mainly 'select' advantage, so another one won't ease Sydney's growing pains</a>
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<p>A <a href="https://education.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/main-education/about-us/strategies-and-reports/media/documents/Review-of-Selective-Education-Access.pdf">recent review</a> of selective schooling in NSW showed the admission processes provide better outcomes for advantaged students — 59% of applicants were from high socioeconomic backgrounds, or have at least one parent with a bachelor degree or above. The gap widens further on selection, with 64% of selected students considered to be in the high socioeconomic group.</p>
<p>So, these schools take hard-working students who have the advantages of extra tutoring. But do the schools, themselves, make a difference to individual students’ scores?</p>
<h2>Do selective schools offer academic benefits?</h2>
<p>Studies show selective schools are high performing compared to non-selective schools, but the degree to which they stretch the abilities of selective students is relatively inconclusive.</p>
<p>For instance, a <a href="https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/2810952/wp2018n08.pdf">study</a> of three of the four fully selective schools in Victoria found selective school students get ATAR scores that are two and a half percentile points higher than the non-selective school students who narrowly missed out on entry into selective schools. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406388/original/file-20210615-2626-1r7dzsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Girl hugging her schoolfriend and holding letter in her hand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406388/original/file-20210615-2626-1r7dzsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/406388/original/file-20210615-2626-1r7dzsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406388/original/file-20210615-2626-1r7dzsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406388/original/file-20210615-2626-1r7dzsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406388/original/file-20210615-2626-1r7dzsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406388/original/file-20210615-2626-1r7dzsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/406388/original/file-20210615-2626-1r7dzsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A study showed students who narrowly missed selective school entry scored very close in final exams to students who got in.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-girls-celebrating-exam-results-school-735915208">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>A recent <a href="https://www.vu.edu.au/sites/default/files/cires-working-paper-02-2021_0.pdf">working paper</a> from the Centre for International Research on Education Systems explored how selective schools shape the socioeconomic composition and academic performance of non-selective schools in Sydney and Melbourne. </p>
<p>It compared the types of students enrolled in geographical “clusters” with one of each type of school: fully selective, partially selective, private and non-selective government schools. The schools were matched where possible in terms of student composition by sex and year levels to enable fair comparisons. The report included 80 schools — 64 in Sydney and 16 in Melbourne.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-south-wales-has-48-selective-schools-while-victoria-has-4-theres-an-interesting-history-behind-this-118823">New South Wales has 48 selective schools, while Victoria has 4. There's an interesting history behind this</a>
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<p>The report showed academic selection through selective school entry ends up with schools being stratified based on students’ social background and academic abilities. </p>
<p>Fully selective schools had the highest proportions of high socioeconomic students (89%). Private schools followed, with 81% of high socioeconomic students. In partially selective schools, advantaged students made up 57% of enrolments. Public schools had the lowest attendance of high socioeconomic students, at just over half, or 50.4%.</p>
<p>Students in selective schools were the highest performing in numeracy, reading and writing. Private and partially selective schools had similar levels of academic performance. Public schools were the lowest performing in all three academic domains. </p>
<p>Given socioeconomic status is a significant predictor of academic scores, it’s unclear whether selective schools would actually make a difference to individual students’ grades. What is clear is that academic selection produces social selection in schools, separating students from wealthy families from those who are of lower socioeconomic status.</p>
<h2>Does competition make a difference?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/a-contest-without-winners#:%7E:text=In%20A%20Contest%20without%20Winners,out%20and%20redefine%20competitive%20choice.">Recent research</a> of 14-year-old students in the United States highlighted competitive, stressful entrance exams — and repetitive testing — affects student well-being, confidence and sense of self when they aren’t selected. </p>
<p>For those who are successful, the process of competitive school entry encourages individualistic mindsets and self-protective actions. The study showed it also heightens racialised stereotyping and lowers empathy towards students who miss out on a place or are unable to compete. </p>
<p><a href="https://bridges.monash.edu/articles/thesis/The_selected_and_the_ejected_The_making_of_student_subjectivity_within_four_Australian_selective_schools/11944869">Australian research</a> shows selective school students often compare entrance exam results with others after enrolment. Those who are successful through second or third round offers carry a sense of failure with them into schools, knowing they were not picked first. These successfully selected but lower scoring students see themselves as lesser than first-picked students for many years after selection. </p>
<p>Choosing a selective over a non-selective school flows through to sustaining inequalities in society more broadly. In contrast, enrolling into local government schools and ensuring a mix of students from different socioeconomic backgrounds will help reduce social inequalities, ensuring fairer life outcomes for everyone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160762/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melissa Tham does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Selective schools are known for producing some of the highest final-year academic results. But it’s unclear whether students would get the same outcomes anyway, regardless of school.Melissa Tham, Research officer at the Centre for International Research on Education Systems, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1602522021-06-14T20:07:15Z2021-06-14T20:07:15ZSchool catchment zones may be annoying for some parents, but they help ensure equality for everyone<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405014/original/file-20210608-10178-ose7cj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/two-girls-waiting-behind-their-friends-1177707217">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Parents of primary school children across Australia applying for high school have the option of selecting several secondary schools of their choice. These include schools outside their local catchment zone. However, schools must give preference to students living within their zone.</p>
<p>So, what are school catchment zones and why were they established? Would it be better to get rid of them altogether?</p>
<h2>A history of school zones</h2>
<p>Australian governments created the school catchment zone policy to manage the growth of mass secondary education in the 20th century. They wanted to ensure students were offered a place at the school closest to where they lived, and regulate enrolment numbers in schools. The government <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781403964892">established high schools</a> from the 1950s to the 1970s to be “neighbourhood schools”. </p>
<p>Parents at the time were not given the option of choosing a school outside their local area.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/choosing-a-school-for-your-kid-heres-how-other-australian-parents-do-it-126011">Choosing a school for your kid? Here's how other Australian parents do it</a>
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<p>But in the name of “choice”, all Australian states now allow students to apply to any public school. Although schools first need to ensure they offer a place to any student living within their catchment zone before accepting students from outside the zone.</p>
<h2>Education is not a marketplace</h2>
<p>We all like to have choice. But what might be ideal for the individual does not always create fair outcomes for all. </p>
<p>Policies to enhance school choice <a href="https://research.monash.edu/en/publications/making-sense-of-school-choice-politics-policies-and-practice-unde">reflect a neoliberal ideology</a>, dominant since the 1980s. It assumes schools and families, or “consumers”, can compete in a free and fair marketplace. </p>
<p>Families go “school shopping”, comparing different schools’ educational programs, facilities, NAPLAN results or student cohorts. </p>
<p>Easing school zoning is one policy shift that aims to increase school choice. This process arguably improves the quality of education. As with the market, schools are compelled to do better to attract more students, or “customers”. </p>
<p>However, schools are not a marketplace but a social service. Not all schools are equally equipped to compete, and not all families are equally equipped to choose. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17508480903009566">Australian</a> and <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/41126245_Juxtaposing_some_contradictory_finding_from_research_on_school_choice">international</a> <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0954896042000267161">research</a> <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/school-choice-and-equity_5k9fq23507vc-en">has shown</a> policies to boost school choice exacerbate inequality and social segregation in school systems. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-schools-are-becoming-more-segregated-this-threatens-student-outcomes-155455">Australian schools are becoming more segregated. This threatens student outcomes</a>
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<p>Well-educated, middle-class parents have the knowledge and resources to target the best schools for their children. This includes paying for private tutoring and other extra-curricular activities, so their kids are competitive applicants in a sought-after school. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405833/original/file-20210611-15-qbswo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Family shopping for school stationery." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405833/original/file-20210611-15-qbswo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/405833/original/file-20210611-15-qbswo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405833/original/file-20210611-15-qbswo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405833/original/file-20210611-15-qbswo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405833/original/file-20210611-15-qbswo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405833/original/file-20210611-15-qbswo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/405833/original/file-20210611-15-qbswo2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Not all families who go ‘school shopping’ are on equal footing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/loving-parents-little-daughter-buying-school-1123189031">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>These families are more able to bypass a “less desirable” local school. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the “less desirable” schools start losing their better educated and well-resourced families. They may suffer declining enrolments and subsequent staffing cuts, making them even less appealing for future families. </p>
<p>This downward spiral makes it virtually impossible for them to compete effectively with other schools. </p>
<p>Australia has the <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/equity-in-education_9789264073234-en">fourth most segregated schooling system</a> in the OECD. Disadvantaged students are heavily concentrated in disadvantaged and poorly performing schools, and the opposite is true of students from wealthy backgrounds. </p>
<h2>How some parents avoid schools</h2>
<p>In my <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07256868.2015.1095715">Sydney-based research</a>, a principal lamented that middle-class Anglo-Australian parents had expressed reluctance to send their children to her school. Because many kids from migrant and refugee families went to the school, these parents thought the academic standard would be inadequate. </p>
<p>Because these families repeatedly bypassed her school for other schools, schools in this area became increasingly segregated by ethnicity and socioeconomic status. </p>
<p>One of my parent participants recounted her observation of other parents standing outside the school gates, assessing whether the school would be too “rough” for their kids. The parent said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They would stand outside the school, look at the kids coming out, and say, “I don’t see anyone that I want my kids to be friends with”.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Other policies around school choice</h2>
<p>The idea of school choice isn’t just seen in school catchment zone policies. It’s also seen in governments spending more money on private schools. Or governments providing more public selective and specialist schools, such as performing arts or sports-focused schools. </p>
<p>For example, in NSW between 1988 and 2010, the number of public non-comprehensive secondary schools (selective and specialist schools) increased by 955% while the number of <a href="https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/8596">traditional comprehensive secondary schools</a> fell by 24%. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-south-wales-has-48-selective-schools-while-victoria-has-4-theres-an-interesting-history-behind-this-118823">New South Wales has 48 selective schools, while Victoria has 4. There's an interesting history behind this</a>
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</p>
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<p>Under the Howard government, <a href="https://www.cis.org.au/publications/policy-monographs/the-rise-of-religious-schools-in-australia/">federal funding</a> for non-government schools tripled . According to Howard-era education minister <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/216882614_The_limits_of_school_choice_Some_implications_for_accountability_of_selective_practices_and_positional_competition_in_Australian_education">Brendan Nelson</a>, one of the greatest achievements of that administration was having the courage to “bring choice to education”. </p>
<p>With strict school zones in place, schools are more likely to reflect the full diversity of the local community. The policy allows students to mix and learn with others from different backgrounds. And it ensures more schools can benefit from the contributions of better-resourced families — from fundraising events to lobbying efforts. It is a means of putting schools on a more equal footing. </p>
<p>School zones may limit individual choice, but they can help create a more equitable and cohesive society. </p>
<p><em>Correction: this article previously stated the South Australian government was relaxing its school zone catchment policy. This is incorrect and has been removed.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160252/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christina Ho receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>School zones are a logical way to manage school enrolments, and the policy helps to create schools that are community hubs, ones that reflect the local areas they serve.Christina Ho, Associate professor, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1297352020-02-21T12:34:58Z2020-02-21T12:34:58ZFederal Pell Grants help pay for college – but are they enough to help students finish?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314081/original/file-20200206-43074-tgcths.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students who rely heavily on financial aid tend to be concentrated in non-selective colleges, new research shows.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/students-standing-together-during-graduation-royalty-free-image/519517477">Ariel Skelly/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pell Grants are one way the federal government helps people pay for college. </p>
<p>During the 2020 to 2021 school year, eligible students can receive up to <a href="https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/types/grants/pell">US$6,345</a> through the program, depending on where they go to school, how many classes they take and how much money their family makes.</p>
<p>Despite this assistance, students who receive Pell Grants are less likely than other students to graduate from a four-year institution within six years: <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2017/10/25/a-look-at-pell-grant-recipients-graduation-rates/">51%</a> versus 59% for students who first enrolled in 2010. Six years is the timespan the federal government uses to measure graduation rates.</p>
<p>One reason for this disparity is that Pell Grant recipients <a href="http://pellinstitute.org/downloads/publications-Indicators_of_Higher_Education_Equity_in_the_US_2019_Historical_Trend_Report.pdf#page=76">tend to go</a> to less selective colleges and universities. <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d18/tables/dt18_326.10.asp">Graduation rates are lower for these institutions</a> than for more selective institutions.</p>
<p>For instance, at four-year colleges with open admissions – that is, an institution where just about anyone who applies gets in – only <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d18/tables/dt18_326.10.asp">31%</a> of students who first enrolled full-time in 2011 graduated within six years. At selective schools, which admit only a quarter of their applicants, <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d18/tables/dt18_326.10.asp">87%</a> did.</p>
<p>We are scholars who study <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MpiZLOEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">why students attend different colleges</a> and other <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ecTgyEUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">issues of fairness in higher education</a>. One of our recent studies finds that institutions that enroll high numbers of Pell grant recipients also have <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1521025119892934">other characteristics</a> that are linked with lower graduation rates, such as having fewer students live on campus and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1521025119892934">spending less per student on instruction</a>.</p>
<p>Our findings have implications for policymakers, taxpayers, college leaders and Pell Grant students themselves. </p>
<h2>College choice</h2>
<p><a href="https://research.collegeboard.org/trends/student-aid/figures-tables/pell-grants-recipients-maximum-pell-and-average-pell">About a third</a> of the nation’s approximately <a href="https://research.collegeboard.org/trends/student-aid/figures-tables/pell-grants-recipients-maximum-pell-and-average-pell">22 million</a> college students received these grants in 2018. The federal government spent about <a href="https://research.collegeboard.org/trends/student-aid/figures-tables/pell-grants-recipients-maximum-pell-and-average-pell">$28 billion</a> on Pell Grants in that school year.</p>
<p>More than half, <a href="https://research.collegeboard.org/pdf/2019-trendsinsa-figs22a-22b.pdf">58%</a>, of Pell Grant recipients who are financially dependent on their parents had family incomes below $30,000 in 2015-16. </p>
<p>But not all Pell Grant recipients are young or live with their parents. About half (53%) take care of themselves and <a href="https://research.collegeboard.org/pdf/2019-trendsinsa-figs22a-22b.pdf">42% were age 24 or older</a>. </p>
<h2>More degrees</h2>
<p>Congress <a href="http://www.ihep.org/sites/default/files/uploads/docs/pubs/pell_final_website_may_2015.pdf">first created</a> what is now known as the Federal Pell Grant program in 1972. A primary goal was to address financial barriers to college enrollment for students from low-income families.</p>
<p>Even with the availability of the federal Pell Grant, college enrollment rates <a href="http://pellinstitute.org/downloads/publications-Indicators_of_Higher_Education_Equity_in_the_US_2019_Historical_Trend_Report.pdf#page=42">continue to be lower</a> for students from lower-income families.</p>
<p>And, simply enrolling in college isn’t enough to lift these students out of poverty. They need to graduate. <a href="https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/3pathways/">Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce</a> has found that increasingly, “good jobs” – defined as a job “that pays at least $35,000 for workers 25 to 44 and at least $45,000 for workers 45 to 64” – require at least a bachelor’s degree. </p>
<h2>Structural barriers</h2>
<p>In a report we produced with The Pell Institute, a research and policy analysis organization that focuses on low-income, first-generation and disabled students, we found that, at community colleges, <a href="http://pellinstitute.org/downloads/publications-Indicators_of_Higher_Education_Equity_in_the_US_2019_Historical_Trend_Report.pdf#page=76">55%</a> of first-year, full-time students got federal grants, including Pell Grants, in 2016-17.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314089/original/file-20200206-43108-1fq0v0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314089/original/file-20200206-43108-1fq0v0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/314089/original/file-20200206-43108-1fq0v0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314089/original/file-20200206-43108-1fq0v0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314089/original/file-20200206-43108-1fq0v0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314089/original/file-20200206-43108-1fq0v0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314089/original/file-20200206-43108-1fq0v0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/314089/original/file-20200206-43108-1fq0v0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Students who get the Pell Grant are underrepresented at selective colleges.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/woman-in-graduation-gown-looking-away-royalty-free-image/961129028">Cavan Images / Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>The percentage was even higher at for-profit colleges – <a href="http://pellinstitute.org/downloads/publications-Indicators_of_Higher_Education_Equity_in_the_US_2019_Historical_Trend_Report.pdf#page=76">68%</a>.</p>
<p>In contrast, at the nation’s most academically selective colleges, only <a href="http://pellinstitute.org/downloads/publications-Indicators_of_Higher_Education_Equity_in_the_US_2019_Historical_Trend_Report.pdf#page=76">16%</a> of first-time, full-time students received federal grants.</p>
<p>One reason Pell Grant recipients <a href="http://pellinstitute.org/downloads/publications-Indicators_of_Higher_Education_Equity_in_the_US_2019_Historical_Trend_Report.pdf#page=76">more commonly attend</a> open-enrollment and less selective colleges is that students from low-income families more often attend K-12 schools with <a href="https://www.researchforaction.org/educational-opportunity/">fewer academically demanding courses</a>. Lack of academic preparation reduces their chances of getting into a competitive college. And it contributes to the <a href="https://www.ecs.org/developmental-education-an-introduction-for-policymakers/">need to take developmental or remedial education courses</a>. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://edtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/ThePellPartnership_EdTrust_20152.pdf">2015 report published by The Education Trust</a> shows that graduation rates are higher for Pell recipients at more academically selective institutions. At institutions enrolling students with the highest SAT scores, graduation rates were 74% for Pell recipients and 79% for non-Pell recipients. At institutions enrolling students with the lowest SAT scores, <a href="https://edtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/ThePellPartnership_EdTrust_20152.pdf">graduation rates averaged</a> 37% for Pell recipients and 42% for non-Pell recipients. </p>
<p>Lower-income students who attend the most selective schools also <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3007490##">fare as well as their affluent peers</a> in terms of how much money they make after college, according to Opportunity Insights, a Harvard University-based research and policy analysis group. </p>
<h2>Supporting low-income students</h2>
<p>Much attention has focused on increasing enrollment of Pell recipients in the nation’s most selective institutions. While important, we believe these efforts are not enough. </p>
<p>Much more must be done to improve graduation rates at the open-access and less selective colleges in which many more of the nation’s Pell recipients enroll. In fall 2015, just <a href="http://pellinstitute.org/downloads/publications-Indicators_of_Higher_Education_Equity_in_the_US_2019_Historical_Trend_Report.pdf#page=18">8% of all undergraduates</a> were attending the nation’s most and highly selective colleges and universities. By comparison, 37% of all undergraduates were enrolled in community colleges and other two-year colleges. </p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/129735/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Some of the data and research in this article was generated with a support from a grant from Lumina Foundation. The findings and opinions are those of the authors and may not reflect the views of the funder. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeremy Wright-Kim does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research shows that low-income students who qualify for the federal Pell Grant tend to go to non-selective colleges – and why that hurts their chances of graduation.Laura Perna, Professor of Higher Education, University of PennsylvaniaJeremy Wright-Kim, PhD Student, Higher Education, University of PennsylvaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1243312019-11-08T16:09:45Z2019-11-08T16:09:45ZWhat the fall of the Berlin Wall and German unification have meant for educational inequality<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300887/original/file-20191108-194650-ektgls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=39%2C124%2C5165%2C3331&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/berlin-germany-nov-2-children-visit-204360967?src=61bf7f9d-f078-4d28-8e51-86df9a3bbe9e-1-52">shutterstock/gary yim</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the <a href="https://theconversation.com/history-didnt-end-with-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall-but-only-now-is-the-new-battleground-clear-125768">Berlin wall fell 30 years ago</a>, on November 9 1989, it marked the end of a 40-year divide between Germany’s communist East and the free market system of the West. For people living either side of the wall, this split led to differences in many areas of life, including education. So while the West German system sorted children into different schools from an early age, based on <a href="https://www.ifo.de/DocDL/dicereport109-rr1.pdf">academic achievement</a>, East German children attended comprehensive school until they were <a href="https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/31853/1/MPRA_paper_31853.pdf">16 years-old</a>. </p>
<p>Most of these children in East Germany would then join the workforce and enter a job training programme, although a small number of students were allowed to continue in upper secondary schooling and onto university. As equality was a stated aim of <a href="https://www.nuffield.ox.ac.uk/Users/Goldthorpe/Market%20vs%20Meritocracy%20Dec08.pdf">socialist countries</a>, East Germany prioritised working-class children in this process. </p>
<p>In West Germany the selective system meant that only those children considered most academically capable were able to complete what’s known as the “Abitur”. These are exams equivalent to A-levels. Students needed (and still need) to pass these exams to be able to go to university.</p>
<h2>The move to one system</h2>
<p>In 1990, the German Democratic Republic (the former East Germany) reunited with West Germany – and, as part of that reunification the east agreed to an economic, social, and political union that saw them adopt West German systems. In education, this meant using West Germany’s system of early ability tracking. This did not allow for “positive discrimination” of working-class children. </p>
<p>In our recent study, published in <a href="https://www.sociologicalscience.com/articles-v6-1-1/">Sociological Science</a> we wanted to look at how the two education systems compared. We were especially interested in how a child’s family background influenced their educational attainment in both the West and East German education systems. </p>
<p>Existing <a href="https://www.sociologicalscience.com/download/vol-4/january/SocSci_v4_54to79.pdf">evidence</a> from former socialist countries shows that once a free market economy is in place, people are less socially mobile. That is, their occupations are more likely to mirror those of their parents. </p>
<p>In our study we looked at the long-term trends in educational inequality across East and West Germany. To do this, we used data from three large-scale surveys on the family background and educational attainment of Germans born between 1929 and 1993 – this includes people in the education system long before and after German reunification. Specifically, we looked at the successful completion of the Abitur by both parents and their children.</p>
<h2>Educational inequality</h2>
<p>What we found was a greater similarity between the educational attainment of parents and children in West Germany than in East Germany – highlighting how educational inequality was stronger in the West. This may not be entirely surprising as policies implemented in East Germany had the goal to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged students. Indeed, in the west, students from higher educational backgrounds were far more likely to take and pass the exam than in the east. It seems that East Germany mainly achieved lower levels of inequality by limiting educational opportunities for students from those higher educational backgrounds. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300888/original/file-20191108-194669-1sokcx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300888/original/file-20191108-194669-1sokcx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300888/original/file-20191108-194669-1sokcx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300888/original/file-20191108-194669-1sokcx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300888/original/file-20191108-194669-1sokcx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300888/original/file-20191108-194669-1sokcx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300888/original/file-20191108-194669-1sokcx2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Berlin Wall separated Communist-controlled East Germany from West Berlin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/berlin-wall-separated-communistcontrolled-east-germany-244390639?src=b4c11359-05f0-4915-9973-180ef3a7a924-1-35">Shutterstock/Everett Historical</a></span>
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<p>As time went on, the East German state enforced “positive discrimination” to a lesser extent. Those who benefited from this process became part of the socialist elite and wanted their children to be equally successful. This meant that over time, educational inequality also increased throughout East Germany. </p>
<p>As a result, East Germany was increasingly unable to provide equal educational opportunities or fulfil its aim of a fair society. Nevertheless, educational inequality remained at a lower level in East Germany than in West Germany before reunification. </p>
<h2>Perils of the selective system</h2>
<p>After the fall of the Berlin Wall – when West Germany’s selective systems were adopted on a wider scale – educational inequality in East Germany increased to West German levels. So the gap between children from higher and lower educational backgrounds in attaining the Abitur became strikingly similar in both East and West Germany. </p>
<p>It seems then that transforming a comprehensive school system into a selective school system increased inequality. This is a finding that echoes other <a href="http://www.forschungsnetzwerk.at/downloadpub/Age_of_Selection_Counts.pdf">research</a> in this field. The reason for this is likely down to highly educated families in the former East Germany seizing new opportunities and freedoms presented by the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the newly established selective education system, they made immediate use of their resources and knowledge to improve their children’s prospects. </p>
<p><a href="https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/grammar-schools-social-mobility/">Research in England</a> has also shown that the attainment gap between children eligible for free school meals and those who are not is wider in <a href="https://theconversation.com/grammar-schools-damage-social-cohesion-and-make-no-difference-to-exam-grades-new-research-93957">selective areas</a>. </p>
<p>Our study supports the idea that comprehensive schooling is better suited to tackling educational inequalities than selective education – as education systems that offer many educational choices may always favour middle-class families.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124331/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When the wall fell – education equality did too.Markus Klein, Senior Lecturer in Human Development and Education Policy, University of Strathclyde Katherin Barg, Lecturer in Education, University of ExeterMichael Kühhirt, Lecturer in Sociology, University of CologneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1188232019-07-21T20:00:42Z2019-07-21T20:00:42ZNew South Wales has 48 selective schools, while Victoria has 4. There’s an interesting history behind this<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281970/original/file-20190701-105164-hnt9t2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Middle-class families in NSW were early adopters and supporters of public high schools.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian made a “captain’s call” in recent months that raised the ire of many parents, teachers and education groups. She <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/complete-surprise-new-selective-school-berejiklian-captain-s-call-20190605-p51uva.html">announced NSW would build</a> a 49th selective school. It will be the first new fully selective school in the state in 25 years.</p>
<p>Selective schools are public schools that take high-achieving students. They are meant to offer opportunities for any higher achiever, regardless of social class, but <a href="https://theconversation.com/selective-schools-mainly-select-advantage-so-another-one-wont-ease-sydneys-growing-pains-118449">research has consistently shown</a> a high proportion of students in selective schools are from more advantaged households. </p>
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<p>Despite this, NSW has 48 fully or partially selective schools, which is more than all other states combined. Victoria, for instance, has only four. This is because, over the last 150 years, NSW has responded to the demand for public secondary schooling differently from the rest of Australia.</p>
<h2>A history of Australia’s public schools</h2>
<p>Australian states have <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781403964892">distinct histories</a> when it comes to public secondary education. NSW began such schooling in the 1880s and Victoria not until just before the first world war. Queensland also held back founding public high schools, due to the earlier foundation of state grammar schools.</p>
<p>In Victoria there was <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1425907">some successful early opposition</a> to government secondary schooling. The private, then church, colleges were the only available schools for most of the wealthy and professional middle class. Victoria developed a pattern of <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1175082">non-government school loyalty</a>.</p>
<p>By contrast, the middle class in NSW used public secondary education from the late 19th century. Schools such as <a href="https://www.fortstreet.nsw.edu.au/about/governance/">Fort Street</a> (1849), <a href="https://www.sghs.nsw.edu.au/About_Us/History.html">Sydney Girls</a> and <a href="http://www.sydneyboyshigh.com/school/introduction/history">Sydney Boys High School</a> (1883), <a href="https://www.northsydgi-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/public/historical-snapshot">North Sydney Girls</a> (1914) and <a href="https://northsydbo-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/about-our-school/history.html">North Sydney Boys</a> High School (1915), and later <a href="http://www.hurlstone.com.au/">Hurlstone Agricultural</a> and <a href="http://www.jamesruse.nsw.edu.au/about/principal">James Ruse Agricultural</a> School (1959), were academically selective from the beginning. They were meritocratic and hardly accessible to everyone. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/selective-schools-long-and-tangled-history-with-race-and-class-74614">Selective schools' long and tangled history with race and class</a>
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<p>In the <a href="http://dehanz.net.au/entries/public-high-schools-foundations/">1890s</a>, state Labor parties campaigned for greater educational opportunity for working-class youth and higher, and technical education for youth generally. As demand rose for universal secondary schooling, a parallel system was established from the 1920s for the “less clever” and the “less likely to succeed” with academic subjects. </p>
<p>So central, home-science and junior technical schools were established. These attempted to meet the assumed vocational aspirations of working-class youth (home-making and domestic service for girls, of course). This was the beginning of the great age of vocational guidance, usually based on intelligence tests. </p>
<p>Schools were differentiated, based on high or low IQs. This system <a href="http://dehanz.net.au/entries/differentiated-schooling/">gained criticism</a> in the late 20th century for trapping children in educational streams that determined narrow futures. With the economy expanding after the second world war, pressure built for more schools and secondary schooling that opened, rather than closed, opportunities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281987/original/file-20190701-105172-1qfvue7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281987/original/file-20190701-105172-1qfvue7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281987/original/file-20190701-105172-1qfvue7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281987/original/file-20190701-105172-1qfvue7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281987/original/file-20190701-105172-1qfvue7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281987/original/file-20190701-105172-1qfvue7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281987/original/file-20190701-105172-1qfvue7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281987/original/file-20190701-105172-1qfvue7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=576&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Schools like Sydney Girls High School, established in 1883, were selective from the beginning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/state-records-nsw/39060711934">NSW State Archives/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>This led to the introduction of <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781403964892">comprehensive secondary schools</a>. These would take in all young people from a defined geographical area (usually zoned) regardless of students’ prior accomplishments at primary school. </p>
<p>In NSW, the director of education, <a href="http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wyndham-sir-harold-stanley-15880">Harold Wyndham</a>, released a <a href="http://web.education.unimelb.edu.au/curriculumpoliciesproject/Reports/download/NSW-1975-WyndhamReport1957.pdf">1957 report</a> that recommended comprehensive secondary schools replace the previous differentiated system. All high schools were to be turned into comprehensives.</p>
<p>Through the Wyndham Scheme in the early 1960s, NSW was an early adopter of the comprehensive ideal. The technical schools were subsequently closed. There was also the possibility NSW would no longer have any selective high schools (public) at all, unlike Victoria with its continuing dual system of academically oriented high schools, and technical schools.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-tech-schools-wont-seem-to-go-away-33839">Why tech schools won't seem to go away</a>
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<p>But the Wyndham Plan didn’t suit everyone. Old scholar and parent communities associated with the inner-city selective high schools, such as Fort Street, fought hard against their schools turning into comprehensives. Such schools had <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/1175082">educated a large proportion of the professional middle class</a> – proportionately more than similar schools in Victoria.</p>
<p>As the Wyndham Plan was progressively implemented in the 1960s, many of the high schools that had selective entrance, including Newcastle High for example, were converted into comprehensive schools. But not all. A <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/academic-professional/education/School-Choice-Craig-Campbell-Helen-Proctor-Geoffrey-Sherington-9781741756562">rump of selectives survived</a>, usually close to inner Sydney. </p>
<p>Fort Street High, the four single-sex Sydney and North Sydney high schools and the agricultural high schools, James Ruse and Hurlstone, formed an institutional base from which new selective establishments could be justified in the 1990s.</p>
<h2>Why the small group of selective schools survived</h2>
<p>In the 1970s and 1980s, <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781403964892">two arguments</a> shored up the acceptability of the surviving selectives. First, there were too few selective schools to affect the effectiveness of the comprehensive schools. The latter could attract, keep and promote opportunity for the academically able.</p>
<p>Second, the examination results of the selective schools brought distinction to the public education system. It was in the interest of public education that the “best” schools in NSW were public.</p>
<p>In 1988 the NSW Greiner Liberal-National government’s education minister, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/i-can-see-why-people-are-worried-have-we-hit-peak-selective-20180719-p4zsiz.html">Terry Metherell</a>, saw an injustice. Why should the mainly middle-class and professional families of the gentrifying inner city and suburbs have access to selective high schools that others in the outer suburbs did not?</p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/selective-schools-mainly-select-advantage-so-another-one-wont-ease-sydneys-growing-pains-118449">Selective schools mainly 'select' advantage, so another one won't ease Sydney's growing pains</a>
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<p>He decided that NSW needed more selective schools, at least across the outer suburbs of Sydney and in Newcastle and Wollongong. So, the Wyndham comprehensive project came to a halt. New selective schools were founded, usually through converting former comprehensive schools. </p>
<p>When the Carr Labor government came to power in 1995, it was too late for the democratic vision of the comprehensive high school. The Carr government’s contribution to selection in public education was to stream several comprehensive high schools as partially selective. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281983/original/file-20190701-105215-bff0lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281983/original/file-20190701-105215-bff0lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281983/original/file-20190701-105215-bff0lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281983/original/file-20190701-105215-bff0lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281983/original/file-20190701-105215-bff0lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=446&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281983/original/file-20190701-105215-bff0lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281983/original/file-20190701-105215-bff0lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281983/original/file-20190701-105215-bff0lm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=561&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Old scholar and parent communities associated with the inner-city selective high schools fought hard against converting them to comprehensive schools. (Sydney Boys’ High School rowing team, ca 1925-1940).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryofnsw/7627958386">Photographer Sam Hood/State Library of New South Wales/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Not only would there be selective schools, but separated, selective streams would be created in new dual-purpose schools. For example, Newtown Performing Arts High School had a selective entrance stream, but also enrolled local students in its comprehensive stream. </p>
<p>Historically, the <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/HER-02-2014-0007/full/html">professional and aspiring middle classes</a> have been the most successful in managing their children in ways that ensured their access to and success in academically selective schools. </p>
<p>With the rise in youth unemployment since the late 1970s, the anxieties associated with finding a school that may advantage a child have heightened, initially for the middle classes but increasingly for all. </p>
<p>More recently, traditional Anglo-Australian users of NSW selective schools have been losing the competition to migrant families, many of these from South and East Asia, who have been even more determined for their children to gain selective places.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fewer-students-are-going-to-public-secondary-schools-in-australia-79425">Fewer students are going to public secondary schools in Australia</a>
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<p>Whether the young people come from migrant families or other groups, the students in such schools and streams usually come to expect they will enter the more prestigious universities.</p>
<p>A market of schools has been fostered since the 1980s, as federal governments have deliberately increased the number of non-government schools and made access financially easier for parents. State governments have re-introduced differentiation in the public school sector (sports, language, performing arts and visual arts high schools, for instance.)</p>
<p>The ideal of the comprehensive school – a common school with a common curriculum for all youth in a community – has not been sustained. Many so-called comprehensive public high schools in high-unemployment areas have <a href="http://dehanz.net.au/entries/residualised-public-schooling-the-case-of-mount-druitt-high-school/">neither sustained enrolments</a> nor a broad or comprehensive curriculum. </p>
<p>The survival of a small group of selective schools in NSW, with strategic and loyal support from left and right in politics and society, enabled the selective system’s rapid expansion from the 1980s, especially as public policy responded to new enthusiasm for markets – not only in schools.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118823/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Craig Campbell has receive Australian Research Council grants relevant to this article, one on the rise of comprehensive government high schools in New South Wales, and the other on the history and sociology of parental school choice in New south Wales.</span></em></p>Over the last 150 years, NSW has responded to the demand for public secondary schooling differently from the rest of Australia.Craig Campbell, Associate Professor, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1184492019-06-11T20:12:38Z2019-06-11T20:12:38ZSelective schools mainly ‘select’ advantage, so another one won’t ease Sydney’s growing pains<p>NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/key-growth-area-sydney-to-get-a-new-selective-school-20190604-p51u8s.html">re-ignited the ongoing debate</a> about selective schools by announcing a new selective school will be built in the “key growth area” of southwest Sydney.
In announcing the school, the premier said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There is strong demand for selective schools, with around 15,000 applications for only 4,200 places. This new school will provide another convenient local option for these students and their families.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But selective schools are never a “local option”. Selective school entry is open to anyone who meets the cut-off in the admissions test, regardless of where they live. Selective school students <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-sydney-students-travelling-phenomenal-distances-to-get-to-school-every-day-20180403-p4z7lo.html">routinely travel</a> for hours across Sydney to get to and from school.</p>
<p>And despite <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/key-growth-area-sydney-to-get-a-new-selective-school-20190604-p51u8s.html">claims selective schools provide opportunities</a> for gifted students across all socioeconomic backgrounds, the data actually show otherwise – selective schools are mainly comprised of advantaged students.</p>
<h2>What are selective schools?</h2>
<p>Fully selective schools have no catchment zones like other public schools. This means students in southwest Sydney will receive no priority when they seek admission to this new school. So, despite claims the school is needed to cater for population growth in this area, this school will never be a local school. </p>
<p>Selective high schools are public schools that cater for high-achieving, gifted students. NSW has more selective schools than the rest of the states combined. This new one will be the 49th if both both fully and partially selective schools are included. Victoria has only four selective schools, Queensland three and Western Australia one.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/should-gifted-students-go-to-a-separate-school-71620">Should gifted students go to a separate school?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Each year, selective schools dominate the HSC leader boards, comprising virtually all the top ten performing schools in NSW. These remarkable outcomes come from <a href="https://education.nsw.gov.au/public-schools/selective-high-schools-and-opportunity-classes/year-7/what-are-selective-high-schools">grouping together</a> high-achieving, gifted students, and teaching them using specialised methods and materials. </p>
<p>The positive aspects lie in selective school students spurring each other on to reach their potential. And sometimes in a comprehensive school gifted students are bored or bullied. But the disparity selective schools create outweighs the benefits. </p>
<h2>They ‘select’ the most advantaged</h2>
<p>An <a href="https://cpd.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Institutionalised-Separation-Report-13-July.pdf">average of 73% of students</a> in NSW’s fully selective schools came from the highest quarter of socio-educational advantage (SEA) in 2016. The SEA is based on factors shown to have an impact on students’ educational outcomes, such as parents’ occupation and education. </p>
<p>At NSW’s highest-scoring school, <a href="https://jamesruse-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/about-our-school/academic-achievements.html">James Ruse Agricultural High School</a>, <a href="https://myschool.edu.au/school/41811/profile/2016">89% of students</a> came from the top SEA quarter in 2016. <a href="https://cpd.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Institutionalised-Separation-Report-13-July.pdf">Only an average 2%</a> of students across all of NSW’s fully selective schools came from the lowest SEA quarter.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278834/original/file-20190611-32351-1t0v4th.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278834/original/file-20190611-32351-1t0v4th.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278834/original/file-20190611-32351-1t0v4th.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=245&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278834/original/file-20190611-32351-1t0v4th.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=245&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278834/original/file-20190611-32351-1t0v4th.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=245&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278834/original/file-20190611-32351-1t0v4th.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=307&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278834/original/file-20190611-32351-1t0v4th.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=307&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278834/original/file-20190611-32351-1t0v4th.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=307&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">James Ruse Agricultural College student profile 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://myschool.edu.au/school/41811/profile/2016">MySchool (screenshot)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Gifted students do exist in lower-income families and <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-nation-at-risk-how-gifted-low-income-kids-are-left-behind-56119">research shows</a> they are underachieving due to lack of opportunity – but selective schools don’t seem to be the answer. The data on selective schools show gifted students from disadvantaged backgrounds are being locked out of the selective system. </p>
<p>In fact, students in selective schools are now so advantaged they surpass those in many high-fee private schools. The My School website calculates an Index of Socio-Educational Advantage (<a href="http://docs.acara.edu.au/resources/About_icsea_2014.pdf">ICSEA</a>) for each school in Australia. ICSEA is set at an average of 1,000 across Australia. The higher the ICSEA, the higher the level of educational advantage of students attending the school. </p>
<p>As the table below shows, in 2016 just over half of the 20 most advantaged high schools in NSW were selective schools.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279018/original/file-20190611-32361-164a0n9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279018/original/file-20190611-32361-164a0n9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279018/original/file-20190611-32361-164a0n9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=734&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279018/original/file-20190611-32361-164a0n9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=734&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279018/original/file-20190611-32361-164a0n9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=734&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279018/original/file-20190611-32361-164a0n9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279018/original/file-20190611-32361-164a0n9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279018/original/file-20190611-32361-164a0n9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<h2>They don’t reflect the community</h2>
<p>Selective schools don’t reflect the communities in which they are located, meaning they are not the “local option” Berejiklian hopes the new school will be. </p>
<p>While public schools have traditionally been local community hubs, exposing students to the full range of diversity in their neighbourhoods, selective schools are not able to fulfil that function. Their level of advantage almost always exceeds that of other local schools. And this is true in wealthy as well as lower-income areas. </p>
<p>As the table below shows, ICSEA scores for selective schools in Penrith, Campbelltown, Gosford, Newcastle and Wollongong far surpassed those of surrounding local schools.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279019/original/file-20190611-32356-mzdpgs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279019/original/file-20190611-32356-mzdpgs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279019/original/file-20190611-32356-mzdpgs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=805&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279019/original/file-20190611-32356-mzdpgs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=805&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279019/original/file-20190611-32356-mzdpgs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=805&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279019/original/file-20190611-32356-mzdpgs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1012&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279019/original/file-20190611-32356-mzdpgs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1012&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279019/original/file-20190611-32356-mzdpgs.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1012&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>Selective schools also don’t reflect the ethnic composition of our community and are overwhelmingly dominated by students from language backgrounds other than English (LBOTE). On average, 83% of students in Sydney’s fully selective schools were from a LBOTE in 2017. At <a href="https://cpd.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Ethnic-Divides.pdf">James Ruse</a>, the figure was 97%. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278833/original/file-20190611-32335-g2x9su.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278833/original/file-20190611-32335-g2x9su.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278833/original/file-20190611-32335-g2x9su.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=173&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278833/original/file-20190611-32335-g2x9su.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=173&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278833/original/file-20190611-32335-g2x9su.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=173&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278833/original/file-20190611-32335-g2x9su.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=217&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278833/original/file-20190611-32335-g2x9su.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=217&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/278833/original/file-20190611-32335-g2x9su.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=217&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">James Ruse Agricultural College student profile 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://myschool.edu.au/school/41811/profile/2017">MySchool (screenshot)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/a-stark-contrast-the-ethnic-divides-across-sydney-s-schools-20190530-p51svk.html">selective school students</a> are children of skilled migrants, particularly from Asia, who tend to be highly educated and who invest heavily in their children’s education. This includes paying for many hours of private tutoring, especially in the lead-up to the selective schools admission test.</p>
<p>The use of tutoring to secure a competitive edge is another barrier preventing lower-income families from accessing the selective system.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/selective-entry-schools-tutoring-improves-student-outcomes-but-adds-pressure-39683">Selective entry schools: tutoring improves student outcomes, but adds pressure</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>High-achieving students need more access to educational programs that will enable them to reach their full potential. But this new selective school is not the solution.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118449/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christina Ho does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Selective schools aim to give all gifted students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, opportunities they may not have had otherwise. But that’s not what’s actually happening.Christina Ho, Senior Lecturer, Social & Political Sciences, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1137582019-03-24T17:49:28Z2019-03-24T17:49:28ZAussie parents are under pressure to buy their kids academic advantage too<p>Allegations of parents <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/hollywood-actors-ceos-charged-nationwide-college-admissions-cheating/story?id=61627873">cheating and bribing</a> top-tier universities in the US to secure their children’s admission have caused a media storm in recent weeks. Those indicted included members of the Hollywood elite. </p>
<p>The US attorney said “there can be no separate college admissions system for the wealthy”. The parents’ actions were denounced, in a system that claims it does not, and will not, allow parents to purchase academic success. </p>
<p>But the reality is that the education system feeds into the “choice” parents make.
In Australia, and elsewhere, the system doesn’t favour academic merit, but parental wealth. Instead of meritocracy, we see a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10780-015-9261-7">parentocracy</a> – the actions and wealth of parents act as key determinants of a child’s academic success.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/college-admission-scandal-grew-out-of-a-system-that-was-ripe-for-corruption-113439">College admission scandal grew out of a system that was ripe for corruption</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Parentocracy not meritocracy</h2>
<p>Caregivers using privilege to buy their children’s way into, and through, education is not a Hollywood anomaly, nor the domain of elites.</p>
<p>Governments and education officials may claim education systems are pillars of <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-your-parents-level-of-education-affects-your-chances-44506">meritocracy</a>, with effort and ability key to success. But the middle class have long being recognised for their ability to <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-poor-kids-continue-to-do-poorly-in-the-education-game-23500">use their economic and cultural resources</a> to negotiate education systems on behalf of their children. </p>
<p>For example, research demonstrates Australian parents use economic resources to:</p>
<ul>
<li>enrol children in academic tutoring specifically to <a href="https://theconversation.com/selective-schools-increasingly-cater-to-the-most-advantaged-students-74151">prepare them for selective schools tests</a></li>
<li>have children <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17508487.2013.877051?scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=rcse20">attend NAPLAN skills days and camps</a> after school and in school holidays</li>
<li><a href="https://tasa.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Bousfield.pdf">buy practice test books</a> and additional resources to prepare children for standardised examinations including NAPLAN and HSC (and similar senior school certificates)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01596306.2015.1061976?journalCode=cdis20">engage academically able children</a> in private tutoring to ensure an “academic edge”</li>
<li><a href="https://theconversation.com/school-choice-no-great-love-for-the-private-path-but-parents-follow-the-money-40376">participate in school choice markets</a> including enrolling children in private schools with extra resources and state-of-the-art facilities</li>
<li><a href="https://theconversation.com/location-matters-most-to-parents-when-choosing-a-public-school-41090">buy real estate in catchment areas</a> enabling enrolment in preferred public schools.</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/location-matters-most-to-parents-when-choosing-a-public-school-41090">Location matters most to parents when choosing a public school</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Education policy and parenting</h2>
<p>It’s too simplistic, however, to write off the actions and spending of parents as a personal choice made only to seek educational advantage for their children. The way we parent reflects more than an individual’s choice. Parenting practice echoes the society we parent in and the institutions (including schools) we interact with.</p>
<p>If we are to talk about parents’ interactions with schools, we must also reflect on government policy. </p>
<p>Let’s consider NAPLAN and the My School website. The introduction of NAPLAN in 2008 and My School in 2010 was a significant change for Australian parents. For the first time, they received student reports that measured not only their child’s individual achievement but their achievement against other students in their school and against a national average. My School allowed comparison of whole school results with other schools nationwide. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-poor-kids-continue-to-do-poorly-in-the-education-game-23500">Why poor kids continue to do poorly in the education game</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Government touted both policies as means to individualism – providing freedom and opportunity for parents to enhance their “informed choice” in decisions involving their child’s education. But, for some parents, new information resulted in new pressures and new obligations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265233/original/file-20190322-93051-1b0sog6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265233/original/file-20190322-93051-1b0sog6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265233/original/file-20190322-93051-1b0sog6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265233/original/file-20190322-93051-1b0sog6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265233/original/file-20190322-93051-1b0sog6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265233/original/file-20190322-93051-1b0sog6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265233/original/file-20190322-93051-1b0sog6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/265233/original/file-20190322-93051-1b0sog6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Parents want the best for their child.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As a case in point, research tells us NAPLAN has resulted in anxiety for some parents, and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17508487.2013.877051?scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=rcse20">many are concerned</a> about how NAPLAN results are used. In one study, parents said they were worried about requests from secondary schools to bring NAPLAN reports along to interviews prior to enrolment. </p>
<p>For many this means NAPLAN is not just a source of information. Poor results could pose an educational risk. And parents are trying to negate that risk.</p>
<p>To alleviate perceived risk, parents have participated in an ever-growing NAPLAN market. <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/brands-cash-in-on-naplan-test-fear-20130510-2jdma.html">The sale of NAPLAN practice test books</a>, for example, almost doubled from 2011 to 2012. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01596306.2015.1061976?journalCode=cdis20">Private tutoring and coaching colleges</a> offering targeted NAPLAN services have seen exponential growth. An estimated <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-28/high-school-students-paying-thousands-for-tutoring/8994644">one in seven</a> Australian school children attend tutoring outside of school. </p>
<p>Under these conditions, parents using their economic resources is about more than educational advantage. Arguably, it is also about an obligation to act to guard against educational risk. </p>
<h2>Parents don’t act alone</h2>
<p>German sociologists Beck and Beck-Gernsheim argue parenting and parenting actions must be understood in the context of policy, institutions and how this translates to parents. They call this <a href="https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/individualization/book207792">“individualisation”</a>. In these conditions:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/579854">it</a> is no longer enough to accept the child just as it is […] the child becomes the focus of parental effort […] there is a whole new market with enticing offers to increase your child’s competence, and soon enough options begin to look like new obligations […]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The key word here is obligation.</p>
<p>Individualisation is not individualism. Individualism assumes parents have a choice. Individualism provides parents with freedom and opportunity to act. Individualisation is the obligation to act – an obligation to protect against real or perceived educational risk.</p>
<p>If we are to critique parents’ practice, we must also critique the system they parent in. With this in mind, the reasons behind parents’ intervening in their children’s education may be more complicated than we think.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-your-parents-level-of-education-affects-your-chances-44506">How your parents' level of education affects your chances</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113758/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kellie Bousfield does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Caregivers using privilege to buy their children’s way into, and through, education is not a Hollywood anomaly, nor the domain of elites. The middle class have been doing it in Australia for decades.Kellie Bousfield, Associate Head of School, School of Education, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/746142017-03-28T19:04:05Z2017-03-28T19:04:05ZSelective schools’ long and tangled history with race and class<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162569/original/image-20170327-19002-12xjtv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In the 1960s and 70s selective schools were seen to be old fashioned and elitist.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Selective high schools in Australia are both popular and <a href="https://theconversation.com/selective-schools-increasingly-cater-to-the-most-advantaged-students-74151">controversial</a>. Many more children seek enrolment in them than gain entry. </p>
<p>Public commentary since the late 1990s has accused these schools of being both hijacked by private coaching colleges, and racially unbalanced — enrolling <a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/mandarin/en/article/2016/11/16/asian-kids-are-taking-over-your-schools-apparently">disproportionate</a> numbers of “Asian” students.</p>
<p>To properly understand the nature of selective schools today, you have to go back to when they first opened. </p>
<h2>Why do we have selective schools?</h2>
<p>Selective schools have never operated in isolation from broader historical forces — including Australia’s connected histories of racial exclusion and immigration.</p>
<p>The selective school system in New South Wales, for example, which has the largest concentration and longest history of selective <a href="http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/gotoschool/types/selectiveschools.php">schooling</a>, is a relic of when secondary schooling was the destination of only a minority of young people, mostly from the middle or upper classes.</p>
<p>Secondary schooling was not universal in Australia <a href="http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/6385131">before the 1960s</a>, and it was only in the 1980s that everyone had the opportunity to complete Year 12.</p>
<p>The NSW selective high schools system was founded <a href="http://dehanz.net.au/entries/public-high-schools-foundations/">between the 1880s and the 1910s</a>. </p>
<p>The schools were to offer students a meritocratic “ladder of opportunity”. That is, they would be open to everyone, regardless of wealth or social class, so long as academic entry requirements were met. This, and the absence of religious criteria, set them apart from private schools. </p>
<h2>Selecting whiteness</h2>
<p>However, the foundations of selective schooling in Australia were always deeply raced and classed. </p>
<p>Despite being accessed by many working class students, their credentials were geared towards middle class occupational groups. And their essential whiteness was ensured by several factors:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Their establishment period coincided with the establishment of the <a href="http://insidestory.org.au/the-beginning-of-the-end-of-the-white-australia-policy">White Australia Policy</a>, which restricted non-Europeans from migrating to Australia.</p></li>
<li><p>Aboriginal children could be legally excluded from the feeder primary schools and <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/16559705?selectedversion=NBD6452509">often were</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>White <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/34704061?q=Tom+O%27Donoghue+faith&c=book&versionId=42984793">Protestant</a> middle class <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/08198691311317697">cultures</a> of the time dominated both the entry tests and the <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/35259686?selectedversion=NBD52060670">curriculum</a> inside the schools.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Non-British migrants arrived in Australia in larger numbers from late 1940s. As early as the 1930s, many children of <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/38857435?q=carolyn+rasmussen+university+high&c=book&sort=holdings+desc&_=1490141065507&versionId=51612016">European Jewish</a> refugees attended selective high schools. </p>
<p>But from the 1960s to the 1980s, the children of non-English speaking migrant families were more often categorised as <a href="http://apo.org.au/node/29669">educationally disadvantaged</a>, and rarely seen as “displacing” the academic opportunities of Anglo-Australians.</p>
<h2>Falling out of favour</h2>
<p>During the 1960s and 1970s, selective schools fell out of favour with policymakers and many parents. They were mostly replaced by <a href="http://dehanz.net.au/entries/comprehensive-government-high-school/">comprehensive high schools</a>, which enrolled all students within a given area, no matter their test scores. </p>
<p>Selective high schools were disparaged as old fashioned and elitist. It was also argued that selection at the age of 11 or 12 was too young to set children on a certain path. </p>
<h2>The revival</h2>
<p>The revival of selective schooling from the late 1980s accompanied a new commitment by the NSW state government to the education of the <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/31660639?q=geoffrey+sherington+comprehensive+high+school&c=book&sort=holdings+desc&_=1490141333992&versionId=231609288">“talented” child</a>. </p>
<p>Academically gifted children, it was argued, were neglected in the one-size-fits-all classroom. </p>
<p>During the same period many white, middle-class families moved to private secondary schooling, responding to policies of <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/153053966?q=school+choice&c=book&versionId=217777033">“school choice”</a>. </p>
<p>Both these developments coincided with increased middle class migration from east and South East Asia. </p>
<h2>Coded racism in media commentary</h2>
<p>By the late 1990s, Australian <a href="https://ninglunbooks.wordpress.com/fiction/for-the-record-the-great-sbhs-race-debate-of-2002/">print media</a> began focusing on the dominance of Asian students in selective school entrance examinations, and on the impact of “too many Asians” on schooling cultures. </p>
<p>The resurgence of white nationalist politics at the time was relevant to these debates. Such politics sought to normalise the <a href="http://acrawsa.org.au/files/ejournalfiles/97AileenMoretonRobinson.pdf">whiteness</a> of institutions like schools. </p>
<p>Our <a href="http://www.eera-ecer.de/ecer-programmes/conference/21/contribution/36916/">analysis</a> of media coverage in the early 2000s uncovers the coded racism that underpinned public anxieties about selective schools. </p>
<p>Media commentary focused on the “fairness” of the selection process itself, indicating that Asian students were using coaching services to gain an unfair advantage. </p>
<p>Our <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01596306.2015.1061976">research</a> into the use of academic coaching by Chinese-Australian families demonstrates that far from “gaming” the system, parents were attempting to mitigate the disadvantages produced by a competitive, marketised, and culturally biased school system.</p>
<h2>The need for historical awareness</h2>
<p>Since the late 1990s, public commentary about selective schooling has often failed to address historical complexity in at least two ways. </p>
<p>Firstly, it tends to use the category of “Asian” in sweeping cultural terms rather than in reference to historically differentiated people. </p>
<p>Asians are cast as a singular group who are then made an easy target of blame for the unfairness of the system. </p>
<p>Secondly, the history of selective schooling is often misunderstood, containing uncritical assumptions about the “good” of a meritocratic system. There tends to be a silence around the histories of <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13384-016-0208-5">racialised</a> exclusions in education and in selective education in particular. </p>
<p>“Asians” in selective schools are positioned as interlopers or breakers of heritage, and other non-white groups including Indigenous Australians tend to be rendered invisible altogether. </p>
<p>We need public debate that challenges - not normalises - the conditions of white privilege in a multicultural settler-colony, not least within our education system.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74614/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Selective schools have never operated in isolation from broader historical forces — including Australia’s connected histories of racial exclusion and immigration.Helen Proctor, Associate professor, University of SydneyArathi Sriprakash, Lecturer in Sociology of Education, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/741512017-03-08T19:24:54Z2017-03-08T19:24:54ZSelective schools increasingly cater to the most advantaged students<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159887/original/image-20170308-27341-7tnaeh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How accessible really are selective schools?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week in New South Wales, thousands of Year 6 students will sit the selective schools test, hoping to gain entry to one of these top performing high schools.</p>
<p>In 2016, selective schools made up <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/hsc-results-2016-james-ruse-agricultural-high-school-tops-the-hsc-for-the-21st-year-running-20161215-gtbnwa.html">eight of the top ten schools</a> in the Higher School Certificate (HSC) leaderboard. </p>
<p>This is not surprising, as selective schools are government schools designed to cater for gifted and talented students with superior academic ability and high classroom performance.</p>
<p>Unlike other government schools, they are unzoned, so students can apply regardless of where they live. </p>
<p>But these public schools are increasingly bastions of inequality, rather than simply havens for the gifted and talented.</p>
<p>Figures from the government’s <a href="https://www.myschool.edu.au/">MySchool website</a> show that in NSW, selective high schools are among the most socio-educationally advantaged in the state, surpassing even prestigious private schools. </p>
<p>MySchool compiles an Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) for each school, taking into account parents’ education and occupation, the school’s geographic location and proportion of Indigenous students. </p>
<h2>Recruitment breakdown</h2>
<p>Among Sydney’s 16 fully selective schools in 2015, 50% scored 1200 or more in the ICSEA (the national average is 1000). </p>
<p>James Ruse Agricultural High School, NSW’s top school for the last 21 years, came in at 1262. </p>
<p>By comparison, among the 20 top performing private schools in Sydney (as measured by 2016 HSC results), only 30% had an ICSEA of 1200 or more.</p>
<p>Only one private school, Sydney Grammar, outstripped James Ruse, with an ICSEA of 1303. </p>
<p>The levels of advantage within selective schools are perhaps even more stark when we compare the students falling within the top quarter of socio-educational advantage (Q1) with those in the bottom quarter (Q4). </p>
<p>As the chart below shows, in 2015, an average of 74% of students in Sydney’s selective schools were drawn from the most advantaged quarter, compared to only 2% from the bottom quarter. </p>
<p>More than half (56%) of Sydney’s selective schools had no students at all from the lowest quarter in 2015. </p>
<p>What’s more, this inequality has grown noticeably in just five years, with 2010 figures showing a (slightly) more balanced distribution. </p>
<p>On average 60% of selective school students came from the highest quarter, while 9% were from the lowest. </p>
<p>There is no stipulation in NSW around the proportion of students selective schools can accept from a single postcode. There are also no diversity benchmarks that these schools must meet.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159888/original/image-20170308-27373-14bm591.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159888/original/image-20170308-27373-14bm591.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159888/original/image-20170308-27373-14bm591.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159888/original/image-20170308-27373-14bm591.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159888/original/image-20170308-27373-14bm591.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159888/original/image-20170308-27373-14bm591.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159888/original/image-20170308-27373-14bm591.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=577&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">MySchool.edu.au</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Is this happening in other states too?</h2>
<p>There are signs that other states are moving towards the NSW model. </p>
<p>Victoria now has four selective schools, whose enrolments are similarly polarised, though not to the same extent as in NSW. </p>
<p>As the chart below shows, in 2015, an average of 62% of students were drawn from the most advantaged quarter, up from 51% in 2010. Only 5% were drawn from the lowest quarter in 2015, down from 12% five years earlier. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159889/original/image-20170308-27338-r51qb5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159889/original/image-20170308-27338-r51qb5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159889/original/image-20170308-27338-r51qb5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159889/original/image-20170308-27338-r51qb5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159889/original/image-20170308-27338-r51qb5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159889/original/image-20170308-27338-r51qb5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159889/original/image-20170308-27338-r51qb5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">MySchool.edu.au (2012 figures were used for Suzanne Cory High School as this was the year the school was established</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Schools should select regardless of background</h2>
<p>As public schools designed to cater for gifted and talented students, selective schools should be accessible to high achievers regardless of family background. </p>
<p>The MySchool figures raise serious questions about how accessible or meritocratic selective schools really are. </p>
<p>They have become more inaccessible in recent years, almost completely so to the most disadvantaged groups.</p>
<h2>Tutoring</h2>
<p>Entry to selective schools is becoming increasingly competitive, with <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01596306.2015.1061976?journalCode=cdis20">growing evidence</a> that success is reliant on months or years of training through academic tutoring centres. Sometimes this begins in early primary school. </p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/27/hothoused-and-hyper-racialised-the-ethnic-imbalance-in-our-selective-schools">my research</a> with students and families in selective schools in Sydney, interviewees explained that many tutoring centres offered programs specifically focused on the selective schools test. </p>
<p>This kind of academic tutoring, designed solely to improve students’ test-taking skills, is quite a different phenomenon to the traditional tutoring undertaken by those who might be struggling in a particular subject area.</p>
<p>Academic tutoring is particularly popular among East and South Asian migrants to Australia, who are often <a href="https://theconversation.com/behind-singapores-pisa-rankings-success-and-why-other-countries-may-not-want-to-join-the-race-70057">accustomed to the practice</a> in their home countries. </p>
<p>As a result, selective schools, as well as being increasingly dominated by the socially advantaged, are also now dominated by students from Language Backgrounds Other Than English (LBOTE). </p>
<p>In both Sydney and Melbourne, LBOTE enrolments make up more than 80% of the school community in virtually all selective schools. At James Ruse, the figure was 97% in 2015. I have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/27/hothoused-and-hyper-racialised-the-ethnic-imbalance-in-our-selective-schools">previously analysed</a> some of the social implications of this ethnic imbalance, from self-segregation in the playground to hostility from Anglo-Australian parents who accuse Asian-Australians of “gaming the system”.</p>
<p>The demographic profile of selective schools therefore reflects Australia’s skilled migration policy, which overwhelmingly selects highly educated, professional migrants. </p>
<p>These middle-class migrants, keen to see their kids do well, but also anxious about their place in a new society, have sometimes been unfairly demonised as <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-tiger-to-free-range-parents-what-research-says-about-pros-and-cons-of-popular-parenting-styles-57986">“tiger parents”</a>. But their behaviour is a logical response to Australian education policies that increasingly emphasise competition and schooling hierarchies.</p>
<p>Ultimately, most students sitting for the selective schools test this week will be unsuccessful in securing a place. And based on current trends, we can confidently predict who will be successful: the majority will come from the most advantaged groups in our society, often from Asian migrant families. Virtually none will be from the most disadvantaged groups. </p>
<p>Selective schools were set up to provide opportunities to the gifted and talented, not just the wealthy, gifted and talented.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74151/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christina Ho has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>Analysis of MySchool data shows that selective public schools are selecting fewer students from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, thus worsening inequality in the school system.Christina Ho, Senior Lecturer & Discipline Coordinator, Social & Political Sciences, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/525262015-12-21T06:24:05Z2015-12-21T06:24:05ZHow schools can help immigrant children to thrive<p>In view of the large influx of <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/syrian-refugees">refugees from Syria</a> and the growing concern about their integration in European societies, the launch of a new report on immigrant children in education systems could not be more timely. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/immigrant-students-at-school_9789264249509-en#page8">report</a> from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), noted reassuringly that there was no relation between the amount of immigrants in a country’s education system and a decline in education standards. It’s as if the OECD were pre-empting criticism from populist anti-immigrant politicians that the influx of Syrian refugees will be a disruption to western societies, and in particular a drain on schools. </p>
<p>The main focus of the report is actually on the performance gap between children of immigrant background and their non-immigrant peers and what schools can do to close it. Although the achievement gap has closed across the OECD – by a semester between 2003 and 2012 – on average, immigrant students still perform worse than their peers. The OECD gives some quite explicit advice to politicians if they are serious about enhancing the performance of these children: provide additional language instruction, arrange early childhood education, prevent segregation, don’t force them to repeat grades and eliminate the early streaming (also known as tracking) of children into different ability groups. </p>
<p>While the first two recommendations are uncontroversial, the last suggestion is politically sensitive as there are quite a few states who practice and cherish the tracking or streaming of children. In Germany, the Netherlands and Austria, different tracks coincide with different <a href="https://theconversation.com/german-apprenticeships-are-built-on-a-cohesive-national-plan-not-ad-hoc-partnerships-23210">kinds of schools</a>, while in England, ability grouping is organised within schools in what is called <a href="https://theconversation.com/forcing-schools-to-set-by-ability-is-not-backed-up-by-evidence-31315">setting</a>. </p>
<p>Provocatively the report said: “While ability grouping, grade repetition and tracking are harmful for all students, immigrant students are more likely to be affected by these practices.” This is likely to raise some eyebrows, particularly among political parties advocating early tracking such as the Christian Democrats in Germany <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-34535778">and the Conservatives</a> in the UK. </p>
<p>Many education <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2003.tb00166.x/abstract">researchers</a> have <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/education-equality-and-social-cohesion-andy-green/?isb=9781403987976">stressed that</a> early tracking only reinforces achievement gaps, not only between immigrant and non-immigrant children but also between children of different social backgrounds. As early as 1974, the French sociologist Raymond Boudon <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED091493">noted</a> that the more tracks a system has and the earlier these tracks start to branch out, the greater the inequality in educational performance and the more difficult it will be for children of modest backgrounds, including many immigrants, to do well in school. In this sense the OECD can be said to be a late convert to the cause of late selection – or comprehensive education as it is more widely known.</p>
<p>The report also noted that early tracking on the basis of ability amounts to social and ethnic sorting and so only adds to school social and ethnic segregation, which is <a href="https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/files/iser_working_papers/2006-02.pdf">an observation</a> widely <a href="http://eprints.ioe.ac.uk/18688/1/RB76_Selection_segregation_civic_competences_Janmaat.pdf">shared</a> in academia. </p>
<h2>Segregation and achievement</h2>
<p>Segregation is also mentioned by the OECD as another factor contributing to the performance gap. This is based on the idea that large concentrations of immigrant children give rise to peer influences that reduce performance, irrespective of the individual social and ethnic background of children. In other words, when immigrant children are surrounded by peers of the same background in school, they are doubly disadvantaged, both in terms of their own background and in terms of the backgrounds of their classmates. </p>
<p>In mixed settings, by contrast, they should be able to learn from their more privileged peers. Desegregated schools can thus help to compensate for the effect of family disadvantage. Again this theory is not new. In 1966 a <a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O88-ColemanReport.html">famous report</a> by American sociologist James Coleman noted that it makes a great difference who you go to school with. This report greatly reinforced the desegregation campaign that was set in motion by the 1954 <a href="https://theconversation.com/racial-segregation-returns-to-us-schools-60-years-after-the-supreme-court-banned-it-25850">Brown vs Board of Education</a> US Supreme Court ruling declaring that <em>de jure</em> segregation was “inherently unequal” and therefore unconstitutional.</p>
<h2>What’s best for immigrant children</h2>
<p>There is more controversy among researchers, however, about whether segregation enhances achievement gaps. In 2005, American researchers Russell Rumberger and Gregory Palardy <a href="http://education.ucr.edu/pdf/faculty/palardy/Palardy5.pdf">noted</a> that when it comes to student achievement, the social composition of schools matters much more than the racial composition. Taking a closer look at social composition they found that several school characteristics, including teacher expectations of children, the amount of homework that students do, and the number of rigorous courses that students take, explain all of the effect of social composition. </p>
<p>This would imply that in theory immigrant children can perform just as well in segregated schools, provided they are exposed to the very same curriculum and teaching input as their peers in mixed schools. The question, however, is whether equalising these resources across schools can be achieved in practice – as they are so inextricably bound up with the social and ethnic mix of schools. </p>
<p>The OECD report deserves praise for letting the data speak and ignoring possible political pressures to revise the policy messages emanating from its findings on what works to close the achievement gap. It does not deal, however, with two relevant questions of quite a different nature: namely whether the policies it recommends can be adopted in the same way in countries with different educational cultures and whether they will produce the same results across the board. This debate – a hot topic among researchers – so far remains unresolved.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/52526/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jan Germen Janmaat receives funding from the British Academy and from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p>Immigrant pupils do not cause a decline in education standards, according to a new OECD report.Jan Germen Janmaat, Reader in Comparative Social Science, Department of Lifelong and Comparative Education, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/273652014-06-03T12:41:41Z2014-06-03T12:41:41ZGrammar school earning gap shows Tories were right to abandon selective education<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50106/original/4w69mygp-1401786978.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Where are they now?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Poss</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Inequality and its rise across many developed societies poses threats of alienation and marginalisation and has been a feature of numbers of recent publications. Now <a href="http://repec.ioe.ac.uk/REPEc/pdf/qsswp1409.pdf">research</a> led by Simon Burgess at the University of Bristol has set out to address the longer term economic effects of selection in English education. </p>
<p>The title of their paper, Selective Schooling Systems Increase Inequality, poses an immediate challenge to <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2334215/Grammar-schools-reach-20-pupils-number-rise-highest-levels-1978.html">those within the Conservative party who still contend</a> that increasing the number of grammar schools would increase social mobility and hence reduce inequality. The current Tory policy is not to open any new grammar schools. </p>
<p>The evidence reported shows precisely the opposite: using data taken from the New Earnings Survey between 1974 to 1996, it shows that the earnings of those educated in areas where “selective” education was the norm were substantially more polarised than for those educated in similar but “non-selective” areas. </p>
<p>Contrasting the absolute value of earnings between the top and bottom 10% of earners in these matched areas, it found that the gap was substantially wider for those areas which were organised on selective lines than for those that were not. </p>
<p>In further analyses, matching individual earners’ characteristics, the paper shows that there is an even wider and more significant difference between the two education systems in the “earnings gap” between the top 10% of earners and the bottom 10% of earners. </p>
<p>An important aspect of this work is its emphasis on the nature of “selection” as a “double-edged” instrument. It applies to grammar schools which are the destination of the minority who are “selected”. But critically, it applies also to secondary-modern schools which are where the majority, those “not selected”, are educated.</p>
<h2>End to selection no left-wing plot</h2>
<p>The paper also provides a useful counter to the glib assertion that the rise of non-selective education was predominantly a left-wing political plot. The evidence relates to the period of history – much of it under the Thatcher administration – when many areas moved from “selective” to “non-selective” forms of educational organisation. </p>
<p>Debate in the 1970s and 1980s over grammar schools was incredibly polarised – not least because of Margaret Thatcher’s personal stance in favour of selective education, even though when she had been minister of education in the Heath government of the early 1970s she had approved the closure of more grammar schools than any other minister before or since. The closure or merging of grammar schools was often as a result of parental pressure over perceived inaccuracies in the selection process itself and of the consequent longer-term distortion of pupils’ career trajectories. </p>
<p>Surrey, West and East Sussex, Hampshire, Somerset, Leicestershire and Cheshire all closed grammar schools during this period – hardly bastions of left-wing ideology. It is in this context that the evidence provided by this study is so relevant to today’s debates.</p>
<p>Warnings about the divisive nature of the selective system have been voiced many times, but the recent dramatic description of grammar schools by Ofsted’s chief inspector of schools, Michael Wilshaw, as being “<a href="https://theconversation.com/english-grammar-schools-try-to-shake-off-middle-class-bias-23806">stuffed full of middle-class kids</a>” was certainly eye-catching. </p>
<p>It recalls a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2007/may/16/schools.grammarschools">2007 comment on this issue by David Willetts</a>, then Conservative shadow minister of education. He said, “We must break free from the belief that academic selection is any longer the way to transform the life chances of bright poor kids … there is overwhelming evidence that such academic selection entrenches advantage, it does not spread it”.</p>
<h2>Not the main driver of today’s inequality</h2>
<p>The new findings are in tune with these observations. But given the relatively small size of selective education today (there are 164 state grammar schools left out of over 3,000 secondary schools in England), it must be questioned whether this is one of the major engines driving the rise in inequality in Britain today. </p>
<p>That we are in such a period is clearly indicated in this chart from a <a href="http://www.policypress.co.uk/display.asp?K=9781847427205">2010 book by Danny Dorling</a>, now at the University of Oxford.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50018/original/zdx3t9j9-1401727085.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50018/original/zdx3t9j9-1401727085.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50018/original/zdx3t9j9-1401727085.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50018/original/zdx3t9j9-1401727085.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50018/original/zdx3t9j9-1401727085.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50018/original/zdx3t9j9-1401727085.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50018/original/zdx3t9j9-1401727085.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50018/original/zdx3t9j9-1401727085.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The top 1%</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Danny Dorling</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This graph shows the proportion of total national income accruing to the top 1% of earners in Britain over the period 1918 to 2005. Levels of inequality rose from a low of 6% in the late 1970s to levels closer to those of the 1920’s by the end of the period.</p>
<p>In a series of reports published between 2005 and <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/news/publications/poor-grammar-entry-into-grammar-schools-disadvantaged-pupils-in/">2013</a>, the Sutton Trust (the mission of which is to improve social mobility through education) identified some of the barriers currently inhibiting this in Britain. The first deals with <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/news/news/top-legal-jobs-still-dominated-by-private-schools/">access to grammar schools</a>, while the others explore the <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/news/news/the-educational-backgrounds-of-500-leading-figures/">over-representation</a> of the 7% of “public school” alumni in many senior professions. The reports show considerable “resistance to change” on this issue over the last decade years – implying substantial impediment to improved social mobility. </p>
<p>This is not unique to Britain, as shown by <a href="http://books.wwnorton.com/books/The-Price-of-Inequality/">a new study by Joseph Stiglitz</a>. It deals with the comparative situation in US where there is even greater evidence of the wealthiest reinforcing and protecting their access to disproportionate shares of the nation’s wealth. </p>
<p>Concern about these dangers is increasing. One of the most cogent contributors here is <a href="https://theconversation.com/thomas-piketty-the-next-marx-or-a-malthus-of-our-time-26039">Thomas Piketty</a> whose latest book paints a depressing picture of the self-reinforcing processes inimical to social mobility currently at work in many western societies. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/28/thomas-piketty-capital-surprise-bestseller">Piketty argues</a> that inherited wealth instills inequality in the system from the very beginning. Is this the kind of society we wish to see as our future?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27365/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Jesson has received funding from DCSF and ESRC. He is associate director of the Specialist Schools & Academies Trust UK, a not-for-profit organisation that works with individual grammar schools and with the Grammar School Heads Association on issues related to improving pupil and school improvement. He has also received funding from The Sutton Trust for work on grammar schools. </span></em></p>Inequality and its rise across many developed societies poses threats of alienation and marginalisation and has been a feature of numbers of recent publications. Now research led by Simon Burgess at the…David Jesson, Associate Director of the Centre for Performance Evaluation and Resource Management and Honorary Visiting Professor, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/238062014-03-05T13:08:38Z2014-03-05T13:08:38ZEnglish grammar schools try to shake off middle class bias<p>England’s 164 state grammar schools form a distinctive but controversial part of the nation’s education system. These schools are distinctive in terms of their high levels of performance – one consequence of them being the only state schools allowed to choose the pupils they educate by testing applicants’ ability. They are controversial because of their perceived negative impact on social mobility. </p>
<p>While grammar school advocates claim that they provide a “ladder of opportunity” for “disadvantaged” pupils, recent evidence challenges this assertion. For example, a <a href="http://www.suttontrust.com/our-work/research/item/poor-grammar-entry-into-grammar-schools-disadvantaged-pupils-in/">recent Sutton Trust Report</a> has shown that disadvantaged pupils form a very small minority of entrants to grammar schools, and more than five times their number come from relatively privileged backgrounds. </p>
<p>This challenge was articulated by the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/dec/14/ofsted-chief-war-grammar-schools">robust assertion of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools, Michael Wilshaw</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Grammar schools are stuffed full of middle-class kids. A tiny percentage are on free school meals: 3%. That is a nonsense. Anyone who thinks grammar schools are going to increase social mobility needs to look at those figures. I don’t think they work. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Admission to grammar school is normally decided by competitive selection tests. Applicants’ scores are ranked, with those achieving the highest marks selected for entry. The tests are administered by an admissions authority – traditionally the school’s local authority. But as the school system has changed, foundation, voluntary aided, trust schools and converter academies are now responsible for their own admissions, subject to department of education’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/275598/school_admissions_code_1_february_2012.pdf">School Admissions Code</a>. </p>
<p>There is no single national selection test for grammar schools. Different agencies provide tests which have for many years followed a similar pattern using verbal, non-verbal, maths and English components. These commercially created tests allow previous years’ examples to be purchased and so become available for tutoring and practice. </p>
<p>The chart below shows a summary of admissions to grammar schools over the recent five year period. For each grammar school, this shows two factors for each school: the percentage of pupils admitted who were educated outside of state primary schools (the blue line), and the percentage admitted who were economically disadvantaged, measured by their eligibility for free school meals. England’s 164 grammar schools are placed here in order along the x axis, ranked by the size of their non-state school admission percentage. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43098/original/s3vmcbn2-1393950037.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43098/original/s3vmcbn2-1393950037.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43098/original/s3vmcbn2-1393950037.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43098/original/s3vmcbn2-1393950037.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43098/original/s3vmcbn2-1393950037.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43098/original/s3vmcbn2-1393950037.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43098/original/s3vmcbn2-1393950037.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43098/original/s3vmcbn2-1393950037.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Grammar school admissions over last five years.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This shows clearly that for most grammar schools, many more pupils were admitted from relatively advantaged backgrounds compared with those children officially designated as disadvantaged. Some exceptions are shown on the right of the graph, where a small number of schools admit similar proportions of pupils from these contrasting backgrounds. They are, however, a minority.</p>
<h2>Tutoring for the test</h2>
<p>Evidence is now accumulating about how bias towards the admission of pupils from more advantaged backgrounds may arise. There are at least two factors at work here relating to the use of conventional forms of selection test. These allow families with the financial resources to assign tutors to help their pupils work through past test papers with intense practice. Tutors also increase familiarity with the subject matter, and so enhance children’s chances of passing the local selection tests. </p>
<p>Another factor is parents who enrol their pupils in non-state prep schools. Because these schools do not have to follow the national curriculum, they are much freer than state-maintained schools to devote substantial time to preparing their pupils for selection tests.</p>
<p>The research carried out for the Sutton Trust suggests that many grammar schools are unhappy with their current selection procedures and are looking for ways to widen access for bright but disadvantaged pupils within their communities.</p>
<h2>Pupil premium as an incentive</h2>
<p>One important government initiative to address some of the educational consequences of disadvantage has provided additional funding for schools in the form of the <a href="http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/pupilsupport/premium">pupil premium</a>. This is intended to enhance performance for pupils who have been in receipt of free school meals at any time over the previous six years. </p>
<p>Some grammar schools which are in control of their own admissions have either already amended or are seeking to amend their “over-subscription” criteria to prioritise the admission of pupils in receipt of the pupil premium over those without – even if the children achieved an identical score on the selection test. At least one grammar school in Warwickshire has adopted this approach.</p>
<p>Other schools applied through the department of education’s Power to Innovate initiative to go one step further, by setting a lower target score for admission for pupils in receipt of the pupil premium. These attempts are now being evaluated. </p>
<p>Some grammar schools, for example those in Buckinghamshire and Redbridge, have attempted to remove the advantage gained by pupils being tutored using past test papers for intensive practice. They have commissioned new tests from agencies that are secure from unauthorised access and not publicly available. These tests comprise substantial sections aligned with the national curriculum in English and maths, which make them more accessible to pupils in state-maintained primary schools. In Buckinghamshire, this method was introduced in 2013, while in Redbridge it has been in use for five years.</p>
<p>A future where grammar schools play their full part in helping bright pupils from all backgrounds achieve has long been a goal of education reform. These initiatives could go some way to making this happen. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/23806/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Jesson has received funding from The Specialist Schools & Academies Trust; Audit Commision, The Educational Endowment Foundation and also from various charitable organisations such as The Church of England and the Catholic Church in England.</span></em></p>England’s 164 state grammar schools form a distinctive but controversial part of the nation’s education system. These schools are distinctive in terms of their high levels of performance – one consequence…David Jesson, Associate Director of the Centre for Performance Evaluation and Resource Management and Honorary Visiting Professor, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.