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Whether someone has ever had free school meal (FSM) eligibility over a six-year period is the measure of socio-economic disadvantage currently used in the English school system. It is used to monitor the socio-economic gap in achievement in the education system, to identify particular children at risk of low achievement and to direct funding to particular children and schools. In this paper we assess how well this measure predicts pupil attainment in secondary school in comparison to other measures of socio-economic background known to influence pupil attainment, such as parental education or income. We ask whether the FSM measure is an adequate proxy for a pupil's socioeconomic disadvantage in an educational context. To do this we draw on the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England and matched administrative data. We find that the FSM eligibility measure correlates highly with other measures of socio-economic disadvantage, however it does not identify all children living in what would be deemed deprived households. We then compare the extent to which the FSM eligibility measure predicts educational achievement relative to other measures of deprivation and find that its predictive power is only marginally lower than many richer survey measures. This provides some reassurance on its use in policy.

This paper presents a description of the background characteristics and attainment profile of pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) in England, and of those missing a value for this variable. Free school meal eligibility is a measure of low parental income, widely used in social policy research as an individual indicator of potential disadvantage. It is routinely treated as context for judging both individual and school-level attainment, as an indicator of school composition, and has been proposed as the basis for the pupil premium funding policy for schools. Knowledge of the quality, reach and limitations of FSM as an indicator is therefore fundamental to accurate decision-making in a number of important areas. This paper uses a national dataset of all pupils (PLASC) for 2007. It looks at the relationship between different indicators of pupil background and attainment to help decide how useful FSM remains in relation to its suggested alternatives, and how to handle the crucial question of missing data and to describe more fully than previously the national picture of who is eligible for free school meals. The results show that, while the distinction between take-up and eligibility has been eroded, FSM remains a useful and clear stratifying variable for pupil attainment patterns in school, linked to type of school attended, school mobility, living in care, special needs, first language and minority ethnic group. The pupils missing FSM values fall into two groups, based largely on their type of school and how long they have been there. One group attends fee-paying schools and is most similar to non-FSM pupils elsewhere and could be aggregated with them in future analyses that do not want to omit them. The remaining missing FSM pupils form a deprived and perhaps super-deprived group. These should not be omitted, nor assumed to be like non-FSM pupils, as currently happens in official school performance figures in England in a way that disadvantages schools with very deprived intakes. The proposal here is that missing FSM pupils in state-funded institutions should be treated in future as a third distinct group. If these issues about missing data are resolved, and other limitations accepted, FSM remains a better indicator of low socioeconomic status than the current alternatives discussed in the paper.

Purpose This paper aims to illustrate, by means of a content analysis of 278 weekly School Meeting minutes, the ways in which student voice is actualized in one democratic free school in Germany. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a qualitative content analysis methodology of 278 weekly School Meetings minutes. Findings This paper uses Fielding’s (2012) patterns of partnership typology to illustrate what counts as student voice and participation in a democratic free school. Research limitations/implications Limitations included being reliant on translations of German texts, some missing minutes from the entire set, the lack of a single author for the minutes (and thus degree of detail differs) and the fact that the School Meeting minutes make reference to other meetings for various sub-committees for which no minutes exist, and thus, findings on the degree of student voice may be limited. And because this is a study of one school, generalizability may be difficult. Future research into these sub-committee meetings would prove helpful as well as content analyses of other democratic free schools’ meeting minutes. Originality/value This study can help people more deeply understand what goes on in democratic free schools and what student voice and participation can mean within this context.

Using the state of Georgia as a backdrop, this paper highlights the current state of the GFSA (Gun-Free Schools Act) in the United States of America, initially enacted in 1994, 30 years later. The progress of school-based ZTPs (Zero Tolerance Policies) in practice shows that progress remains slow a quarter of a century later. In response, this paper looks at the origins of school-level ZTPs, the intended and unintended consequences and identifies strategies for making substantial progress moving forward. Using Georgia law and the Fulton County school system as drivers toward change, this paper looks at State, County, and Regional-level implementation of School-based ZTPs, in alignment with the GA legal standard, to add to the existing knowledge base in this realm. By pointing to what has and has not been working, this paper seeks to bring efficacious strategies for improvement to the forefront (i.e., increasing the use of positive, collaborative behavior interventions and supports, using aggregate data to reduce the number of disciplinary actions that force students out of the classroom, creating reasonable limits on the use of law enforcement in public schools) to allow all students to learn in environments that are safe, non-punitive, and impartial.

Supporters and critics of free schools in England have had differing expectations about whether free schools would emerge in socially disadvantaged areas, and whether they would become socially selective. We investigate the outcomes, using information from the first three years since the introduction of the first new schools in 2011, drawn from the National Pupil Database. We find that, as policy proposers had expected, free schools have been situated in neighbourhoods that are somewhat above average in terms of the proportions entitled to free school meals, a well-known indicator of social disadvantage. Nevertheless, we also find that the free schools are socially selective within their neighbourhoods. These two effects balance out so that, overall, compared with the average for all England, there are no great differences between the social composition of secondary free schools and that of the national average. However, at primary school level there is evidence that free schools are enrolling children with above average ability. Moreover, there are very substantive differences between the ethnic composition of free schools and other schools. Despite these differences, we find little evidence that the presence of free schools is having an effect on the social composition of intakes to other schools in their neighbourhoods or on segregation in the local authority as a whole. We suggest this may be because there are still too few free schools, with very small cohort sizes, recruiting from very dispersed areas.

Background School staff members’ consistent enforcement of school tobacco policies (STPs) is needed to decrease adolescent smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke. Staff’s confidence, indicating their perceived ability to cope with students’ negative responses, explains variations in staff’s STPs enforcement, yet understanding of the determinants for confidence is lacking. We analyzed the conditions in which the staff feel confident in addressing students who violate STPs to support staff’s enforcement.  Methods Data consists of 81 semi-structured interviews with the staff members from 26 secondary schools in seven European cities in Belgium, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, and Portugal. In every city, 3–4 staff members (senior management, teachers, supportive staff) in 3–4 schools (academic–vocational, high–low SES area) were interviewed. Transcripts were analyzed with thematic analysis. Results When staff felt confident in their ability to prevent, diminish, or handle students’ negative responses, they were more likely to address students on STP violations. The staff was more confident (1) when consistent policy enforcement within school and regarding the wider society ensured staff legitimacy for STPs enforcement, (2) when dialog and mutual familiarity with students allowed the staff to facilitate constructive interaction with STP violators, and (3) when organizational backup structures provided staff collegial support to overcome challenges in the enforcement. These conditions would support consistent enforcement, especially with persistent misbehavers and among the more uncertain staff members. Conclusions Our study stresses the need to implement strategies at multiple levels to strengthen staff’s confidence for STP enforcement. To support staff’s legitimacy for enforcement, we suggest reinforcing structures and practices that facilitate consistency in STP enforcement; to support staff’s ability for constructive interaction with STP violators, we suggest strengthening staff’s social and emotional learning; and to support staff’s experience of collegial support, we suggest reinforcing staff’s collective ability to cope with students’ negative responses.

This paper explores the sources and impact of variations of a given school quality at either primary or secondary level as capitalised into the price of houses. The results provide new evidence on the complex and subtle ways in which housing markets capitalise the value of local public goods such as school quality and suggest that this is highly nonlinear. We expect variation in the capitalised price according to the elasticity of supply of 'school quality' in the local market, the certainty with which that quality can be expected to be maintained and the suitability of the dwelling to accommodate children.

The article aims to make a methodological contribution to the education segregation literature, providing a critique of previous measures of segregation used in the literature, as well as suggesting an alternative approach to measuring segregation. Specifically, the paper examines Gorard, Fitz and Taylor's finding that social segregation between schools, as measured by free school meals (FSM) entitlement, fell significantly in the years following the 1988 Education Reform Act. Using Annual Schools Census data from 1989 to 2004, the paper challenges the magnitude of their findings, suggesting that the method used by Gorard et al. seriously overstates the size of the fall in segregation. We make the case for a segregation curve approach to measuring segregation, where comparisons of the level of segregation are possible regardless of the percentage FSM eligibility. Using this approach, we develop a new method for describing both the level and the location of school segregation.

Enhancing the role of private sector partners in education can lead to significant improvements in education service delivery. However, the realization of such benefits depends in great part on the design of the partnership between the public and private sectors, on the overall regulatory framework of the country, and on the governmental capacity to oversee and enforce its contracts with the private sector. Under the right terms, private sector participation in education can increase efficiency, choice, and access to education services, particularly for students who tend to fail in traditional education settings. Private-for-profit schools across the world are already serving a vast range of usersâ€\"from elite families to children in poor communities. Through balanced public-private partnerships (PPPs) in education, governments can leverage the specialized skills offered by private organizations as well as overcome operating restrictions such as salary scales and work rules that limit public sector responses. 'The Role and Impact of Public-Private Partnerships in Education' presents a conceptualization of the issues related to PPPs in education, a detailed review of rigorous evaluations, and guidleines on how to create successful PPPs. The book shows how this approach can facilitate service delivery, lead to additional financing, expand equitable access, and improve learning outcomes. The book also discusses the best way to set up these arrangements in practice. This information will be of particular interest to policymakers, teachers, researchers, and development practitioners.

This paper présents a new analysis of segregation between schools in terms of pupils living in poverty, for ail secondary schools in England from 1996 to 2005. This shows that the clustering of similar pupils in specifie schools increased noticeably from 1996 to 2001, but then settled at a level still below that of 1989 when officiai records began. The analysis uses four estimates of segregation using figures for take-up of, and eligibility for, free school meals compiled to create both the dissimilarity index and what has been termed the Gorard index of segregation. Ail four estimates give the same Substantive results and the findings for the dissimilarity index and the Gorard index of segregation using either measure of free school meals are indistinguishable. The two indices are, therefore, measuring the same thing. However, the Gorard index of segregation is again shown to be more tolerant of the precise measure being used and so more strongly composition invariant than the dissimilarity index. This has important implications both for the past debate on how to measure segregation between schools and for how éducation authorities go about estimating segregation in the future.