Regional and local differences in admission arrangements for schools

This paper describes the results of an analysis of the secondary school adm issions arrangements, current and past, published by 40 Local Education Aut horities in England and Wales. Arrangements are separated here into applica tion procedures and school allocation criteria, and explored through an exa mination of specific examples of each type. The potential impacts of these arrangements for school admissions and for the changing social composition of schools are discussed. Perhaps the most significant finding is the scale of variation, even between apparently similar regions, in the nature of th e admissions process, given that all procedures are presented as being in a ccordance with national legislation. Because the local implementation of na tional policy gives authorities this leeway in interpretation, many areas h ave riot changed their procedures much, either in response to the Education Reform Act 1988, or the subsequent School Standards and Framework Act 1998 .