Main Conference
Individual paper
School competition, hierarchies, examination performance
There has been little large-scale research on school choice that has focussed on patterns of competition between schools in the ‘new’ education market. This is largely due to the complex patterns of choice and competition that result from the varied, almost unique, decision-making process of parents in choosing a school for their children. However, using student postcodes across six Local Authorities with different geographies, distinct types and forms of competition do appear to occur within the ‘lived’ market place.
This paper presents a typology of competition spaces that cross the
urban-rural divide, and that incorporate all non-fee-paying secondary schools.
It suggests that competition and choice in the education market place is,
generally, hierarchical, and that the position of schools within these
hierarchies is largely related to their relative examination performances
within ‘local’ markets or spaces of competition. The paper concludes by
suggesting that the concept and the subsequent identification of the ‘local’
markets or competition spaces is necessary before addressing issues such
as the impact on school rolls and potential social segregation of intakes.