Reduce range of school types to tackle segregation

Reducing the different types of schools on offer to parents will help to tackle a “stubborn underlying level” of segregation in English education.

Immigration and the recession have led to a reduction in the levels of race and class segregation between schools in England, academics have found.

However, they warn that there is still an underlying problem of segregation between disadvantaged pupils and their peers and claim that successive governments’ attempts to increase the types of school available seem to have contributed to the problem.

The academics from the Universities of Durham and Birmingham analysed the background data of students in state schools in England over the past 25 years. They found that a rising number of people falling into economic hardship since 2008 has led to a more even spread of pupils who claim free school meals.