ERIC Number: EJ1417231
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 23
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0305-4985
EISSN: EISSN-1465-3915
Available Date: N/A
Serving Their Communities? The Under-Admission of Children with Disabilities and 'Special Educational Needs' to 'Faith' Primary Schools in England
Tammy Campbell
Oxford Review of Education, v50 n2 p249-271 2024
Around 28 per cent of state primary school children attend 'faith' establishments in England, the majority in Catholic or Church of England schools. Research suggests 'faith' schools tend to educate proportionally fewer children from low-income families (proxied by eligibility for Free School Meals [FSM]). This paper examines whether they also under-admit children 'disadvantaged' according to another key dimension: having special educational needs and/or disability (SEND). Descriptive statistics and modelling use the National Pupil Database census and span 2010-2020. Across years, 'faith' primary schools are less likely to include children with SEND, and less likely to admit children with SEND to the first (Reception) year. Accounting for area-level factors, indications of under-admission to Catholic schools become more pronounced. Some disproportionality for Church of England schools is explained by confounders -- but even after attenuation, they remain less likely to serve children with SEND than non-'faith' schools. Together, FSM and SEND predict a substantively meaningful lowered likelihood of children attending 'faith' schools, so these schools, at the national level, seem to have become hubs of relative 'advantage'. Findings therefore demand interrogation of whose interests these institutions serve, and of their part within the current English system.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Religious Schools, Elementary Schools, Special Needs Students, Students with Disabilities, Admission (School), Equal Education, Student Characteristics, Disproportionate Representation
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (England)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Data File: URL: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-access-department-for-education-dfe-data-extracts
Author Affiliations: N/A