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…

This paper considers enjoyment of formal education for young people aged 14 to 16, largely from their own perspective, based on the view of around 3000 students in England. The data include documentary analysis, official statistics, interviews and surveys with staff and students. Enjoyment of school tends to be promoted by factors such as…

This paper considers the model of school effectiveness (SE) currently dominant in research, policy and practice in England (although the concerns it raises are international). It shows, principally through consideration of initial and propagated error, that SE results cannot be relied upon. By considering the residual difference between the…

This paper presents a new analysis of segregation between schools in terms of pupils living in poverty, for all secondary schools in England from 1996 to 2005. This shows that the clustering of similar pupils in specific schools increased noticeably from 1996 to 2001, but then settled at a level still below that of 1989 when official records…

This article has two chief purposes. It presents a substantive reappraisal of a decade of school choice research in the UK. This reappraisal is used as a case study illustrating the elasticity of the notion of social science "evidence", when wielded by academics in an area where strong ideological preconceptions struggle with the lack of a sound…

This article considers the emerging method of design experimentation, and its developing use in educational research. It considers the extent to which design experiments are different from other, more established, methods and the extent to which elements of established methods can be adapted for use in conjunction with them. One major issue to be…

Takes as background the shift over time in Great Britain toward models of target setting in education, based almost entirely on measurable outputs. Outlines some alternative models involving targets for inputs and processes, and use of targets that are exhortative rather than directly measurable. (BT)

Details differential attainment by gender for all students in Wales over 6 years old, at every level of assessment from Key Stage 1 to A level. Notes few significant gender differences in mathematics and sciences. Reports, for all other subjects, no significant gender differences at the lowest level of any assessment. (BT)

Explores the relationships between the patterns of participation in lifelong learning of parents and children within families. Based on a large-scale study of lifetime participation in industrial South Wales. Suggests that individual participation trajectories remain similar within families and illustrates the varied manifestations of family…