Leaton Gray, SH; Whitty, G; (2007) Comprehensive schooling and social inequality in London: past, present and possible future. In: Brighouse, T and Fullick, L, (eds.) Education in a global city: essays from London. (pp. 95-121). Institute of Education, University of London: London, UK.

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Abstract

London has undergone a dramatic transformation in the last twenty years, both in relation to population growth and increasing disparity of wealth. Moreover, as a large international city with a complex educational history, the capital is sometimes seen as presenting a unique problem for policymakers in terms of contemporary social, political and educational change. However, some of the ongoing problems surrounding education in London could also be attributed to tensions that exist between conflicting aims within any educational transformational process and in any geographical area. For example, the purpose of education has been seen variously over the years: as transmitting knowledge, as providing opportunities for growth, as removing ‘hampering influences’ or ‘broadening horizons’, as developing the capacities of the individual, as giving culture to the individual, or as training future citizens (Russell, 1932:29; Miliband, 2006:16), Urban education provides a territory where these aims are contested more hotly than in other educational arenas; as London is a particularly large urban conurbation, with a particularly diverse population, the effect is exaggerated. Indeed, Grace described the city as “providing the most dramatic context in which conflicts become visible” (Grace, 1984: 34). Another issue is that Parliament itself is based in London and policy makers and media commentators observe (and sometimes experience) London education at first hand. This seems to influence the debate significantly, resulting in a situation in which education policy in England is in many senses London-centric, and therefore essentially urban in nature. Furthermore, London has often been a testing ground for new initiatives, as indeed it is at the present time. A key question now is whether we are in fact gradually moving towards a post-competition era in maintained secondary education.

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