Education and Inequality

Overview

This research examines how school systems shape educational and economic inequalities. Two strands run through this work: the role of private schooling in reproducing advantage, and the effects of market-based reforms on school competition and segregation. Both address how institutional arrangements channel opportunity—who gains access to high-quality education, and what difference it makes for later outcomes.

Research Questions

• How has access to private schooling changed as fees have risen, and what role do income and wealth play in participation?
• What are the educational, labour market, and broader life outcomes associated with private schooling in 21st century Britain?
• Do market-based education reforms improve school quality, or primarily intensify competition for students?
• How do school choice policies affect social segregation by income and ethnicity?

Approach

This work combines longitudinal cohort studies with quasi-experimental policy evaluation. For private schooling, analysis draws on the Millennium Cohort Study and Next Steps to track outcomes from adolescence into early adulthood, comparing private and state school pupils with similar prior attainment and family backgrounds. For school competition, the Free Schools evaluation used difference-in-differences methods alongside qualitative case studies to examine how new schools affected neighbouring institutions.

Funded Projects

• Private Schooling in the UK in the 21st Century — ESRC, 2017–2019. PI: Francis Green. Comprehensive study of private school participation and outcomes using MCS and Next Steps data.
• Competitive Effects of Free Schools — Nuffield Foundation, 2020–2025. Co-I. Examined whether England’s free school programme improved outcomes in neighbouring schools. Final report
• Degrees of Difference — Sutton Trust, 2024. Cross-national comparative study of social mobility through higher education in the UK, US, and comparator countries. Report

Key Publications

1. Income, housing wealth, and private school access in Britain

   Golo Henseke, Jake Anders, Francis Green, and 1 more author

   Education Economics, 2021

   DOI

   
2. Private schooling, subject choice, upper secondary attainment and progression to university

   Morag Henderson, Jake Anders, Francis Green, and 1 more author

   Oxford Review of Education, 2020

   DOI

   
3. Private schooling and labour market outcomes

   Francis Green, Golo Henseke, and Anna Vignoles

   British Educational Research Journal, 2017

   DOI

   

Header image: “School gates” by Rhondda, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0. No changes made.