Moving on from free school meals: national census data can describe the socio-economic background of the intake of each school in England

Abstract

Background: Data for England from the national census can provide the socioeconomic background of individual pupils and therefore the intake of schools. In many respects, this is more useful than the conventional measure of 'free school meals', which has historically been used in the UK as a proxy measure for disadvantage. Prior to the advent of the English Pupil-level Annual School Census in 2001, using census data for research concerning schools was problematic as the immediate location of the school is often socio-economically different to areas in which the pupils live. Now and in future, working with the national census is considerably more attractive as data on individual pupils can be matched and information aggregated to school level to provide measures that reflect intake rather than immediate location. Purpose: This paper discusses the details, merits and uses of this approach. It considers whether derived census data for England can replace or augment the traditional proxy measure for disadvantage, eligibility for free school meals. Sources of evidence: Statistical comparisons of derived data from the 2001 England national census and the free school meals measure were used to clarify strengths and weaknesses of the two approaches. A literature review concerning the measurement of socio-economic disadvantage for educational research provided background to the discussion. Educational researchers at the UK's National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) provided details of what variables from the 2001 national census would be useful to derive. Data descriptions provided with the English Pupil-level Annual School Census and the 2001 England national census formed the basis of the data derivation. Main argument: Eligibility for free school meals has a number of problems when used as a proxy measure for disadvantage. The use of derived national census data to illustrate the socio-economic background of pupils and schools' intake is free of these problems. However, it has its own collection of setbacks that should determine how and when it is used. Conclusions: Derived national census data should be used in conjunction with eligibility for free school meals to enhance our knowledge of the important part background has to play in the education of children in England.

School effects and ethnic, gender and socio-economic gaps in educational achievement at age 11

“…Further details can be found on the Department for Communities and Local Government website http://www.communities.gov.uk. Styles (2008). has argued cogently for supplementing the FSM indicator with census and area based measures.…”

Exploring school and home food environments: perceptions of 8–10-year-olds and their parents in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

“…The evidence that school meal consumption was higher in photographs from children living in more deprived areas suggests a link between deprivation level and school meals. The uptake of free school meals in the UK has been used as a proxy measure for deprivation (34) ; however, in the present study we did not record whether or not children received free school meals. Associations were observed between home IMD scores and a number of parental questionnaire responses.…”

Modelling Socioeconomic Neighbourhood Change due to Internal Migration in England

“…This is measured by whether a pupil claims free school meals (FSM). FSM status has been used widely as a proxy measure of low socioeconomic status in educational research (Machin et al ., 2006; Styles, 2008). To be eligible for FSM, a child must be living in a household claiming a means-tested income benefit (Hobbs and Vignoles, 2010).…”