Comprehensive schools do not reduce social mobility

Policy 03 Mar 11 Children are no worse off in socio-economic terms if they go to a comprehensive rather than to schools in the selective system, according to new research. The study found that when the total cohort of children was taken into account those who went to comprehensive schools were not disadvantaged in terms of social mobility compared the cohort who attended grammar schools and secondary moderns. The research, published in the British Journal of Sociology, was carried out by Dr Adam Swift, from the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford, and Dr Vikki Boliver, from the Department of Social Sciences at Bath Spa University. The researchers analysed data from the National Child Development Survey, which tracks all children born in Britain in a particular week in 1958. Some of these children were among the first comprehensive school pupils, during the transition away from a selective system. Looking at the full picture rather than grammar schools alone, we find little to support the idea that comprehensive schools had a negative effect on their pupils? mobility chances Unlike previous researchers Drs Swift and Boliver not only compared the social mobility of children who attended comprehensives with those from grammar schools, but also included secondary modern schools in their analysis. They looked at children from all social backgrounds, rather than just those from working- class or low-income families, and they compared children of similar measured ability at age 11.