An Analysis on the school choice in UK- conflict over the introduction of free school in local community-

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25381146
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Sociology of education
• Research Institution: Aichi University
• Principal Investigator: KATO JUN 愛知大学, 文学部, 教授 (80194819)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 教員養成 / 学校選択 / free school / United Kingdom / academy school / PGCE / School Direct

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The aim of this study is to provide a realistic example of privatisation of school management as a result of drastic educational reform in UK.We focused on free schools as an example of catchment free, self-management type of schools. Having done several interviews to principals of secondary and primary schools in Devon, we found that free school choice could give rise to local conflict between affluent families and lower-middle or labour class families. Ongoing Educational reform in UK has a high risk of segmentation of local communities. In other words educational reform under the ideology of marketisation or privatisation is likely to be in favour of haves rather than have-nots. The implication form this study for Japanese educational reform is that we should be very careful and take more time before rushing to abolish our school catchment system and adopt free school choice.

Free Research Field

教育社会学