The issue of social segregation in schools has seen a recent resurgence of interest, in the
light of policies that have sought to expand parental choice. Most research has focused on
segregation along lines of ethnicity or social background. Yet, the real consideration in the
back of people's minds seems to be stratification along lines of pupil ability. This paper looks
explicitly at this issue using the population of pupils entering secondary schools in England
from 1996 to 2002. The study highlights wide disparities between peer-group ability in …

The issue of social segregation in schools has seen a recent resurgence of interest--in the
US, UK and internationally--as the debate rages on about whether policies that expand
families' freedom to choose amongst schools encourage divergence or convergence in the
types of pupil different schools admit. Most attention has been focussed on segregation
along lines of ethnic or social background. Yet, the real consideration that seems to be in the
back of most people's minds is the issue of segregation or stratification of schools along …