Higham, R;
(2023)
Do free schools create “competitive threats”? The perceptions of neighbouring schools.
Educational Review
10.1080/00131911.2023.2240978.
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Abstract
A central policy claim for opening free schools in England was that these new schools would create competitive threats that incentivise nearby schools to improve. Where comparable policies have been pursued, notably charter schools in America, research has often measured competitive effects quantitatively. The perceptions of local actors assumed to experience competition can be overlooked. Responding, this article develops the first qualitative analysis of a sample of 28 schools neighbouring 14 free schools. The analysis evidences the importance of market contexts, with perceived competition mediated by supply and demand for places, choice geographies and school status hierarchies. Resulting diversity does not support simplistic assumptions nearby schools perceive competition or respond by seeking to improve. Just under half the schools studied perceived free schools created few competitive threats. Where competition was perceived, headteachers reported taking actions on promotion and national performance indicators, but rarely classroom practices. Where competition was strongest, headteachers reported intensive social selection, with free schools perceived to increase inequalities. The influence of school status on competitive logics of action was also revealed. Unequal material and symbolic resources afforded by status positioning informed headteachers’ perceptions of their relative capacity for effective action. Nine ideal types of logics of action are outlined, identifying how the context of competition and a school’s status influenced orientations to action. These logics are shown to be important in how intensive competition increased socio-economic inequalities by concentrating the negative effects of opening free schools, where these existed, in lower status schools serving more disadvantaged students.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Do free schools create “competitive threats”? The perceptions of neighbouring schools |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1080/00131911.2023.2240978 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2023.2240978 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. |
| Keywords: | Competition; improvement; free school; choice; inequality; charter school |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Learning and Leadership |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10177025 |
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