Seminar: 'School choice' in England - fact or fiction: evidence from national administrative data

Tue 17 March 2020

The Triangle Building

Educational attainment is key to a child’s life chances, and schools vary in their ability to raise attainment. For this reason, the process of school choice is an important factor in academic achievement.

Since 1988, parents have notionally had the right to choose the school that their child attends. More precisely, they can choose to apply to their preferred school, but with no guarantee that their child can actually enrol there.

There are many prevailing myths around school choice; the first being that parents have a 'free' choice. Another being that parents from poorer households don’t care which school their child attends and will just select the nearest one.

At this Cambridge Assessment Network seminar, Professor Anna Vignoles, from the Faculty of Education, will explore some of these myths using a new large-scale national dataset, providing a rich empirical description of how the school choice market functions.

Join us for refreshments from 16:00 before the seminar begins at 16:30. After the seminar. there will be an opportunity for questions, followed by networking and a drinks reception.

Our seminars offer a chance for academic debate around assessment and education policy, are free of charge and open to all.

Cost: Free