The processes for allocating places at secondary schools in England are perennially controversial. Providing integrated coverage of the policy, practice and outcomes from 1944 to 2012, this book addresses the issues relevant to school admissions arising from three different approaches adopted in this period: planning via local authorities; parental choice of school via quasi-market mechanisms; and random allocation. Each approach is assessed on its own terms, but constitutional and legal analysis is also utilised to reflect on the extent to which each meets expectations and values associated w ... More

The processes for allocating places at secondary schools in England are perennially controversial. Providing integrated coverage of the policy, practice and outcomes from 1944 to 2012, this book addresses the issues relevant to school admissions arising from three different approaches adopted in this period: planning via local authorities; parental choice of school via quasi-market mechanisms; and random allocation. Each approach is assessed on its own terms, but constitutional and legal analysis is also utilised to reflect on the extent to which each meets expectations and values associated with schooling, especially democratic expectations associated with citizenship and with accountability in decision-making. Repeated failure to identify and pursue specific values for schooling, and hence admissions, can be found to underlie questions regarding the 'fairness' of the process, while also limiting the potential utility of judicial responses to legal actions relating to school admissions. The book concludes that the democratic expectations at stake in education, especially for vulnerable children such as those with Special Educational Needs, are too important to be left to either quasi-markets or randomness, and identifies the limited ability of the legal system to act autonomously so as to provide safeguards adequate to ensure integrity and accountability, with a consequential need being reasserted for clarity over fundamental values. The interdisciplinary approach adopted renders the book relevant and accessible to a wide readership in education, social policy and socio-legal studies.