Markets and Stratification: A View from England and Wales

Abstract

In 1988, the Education Reform Act enabled all parents in England and Wales to express a preference for any school for their child. This created a market-like situation within which school survival depended on a regular supply of students. Previous studies in the United Kingdom have suggested that this would lead to increasing socioeconomic segregation between schools. In contrast, the investigation reported here found that segregation has declined in several respects since 1988. The study uses school-level data relating to free school meals (FSM), ethnicity, first language, and special needs for every school in England and Wales. All indicators at each level of aggregation are in agreement. Student segregation between schools has decreased over time. There is little evidence that this powerful social movement is related to market forces, and some indications are presented here that although markets have not caused segregation, they do not seem to be causing the desegregation either