The Centre for Policy Studies has a new report out today about “How to Overcome Selection by House Price“ which deals with the issue raised nearly 20 years ago by the then Labour Education Minister Andrew Adonis: “Comprehensive schools have largely replaced selection by ability with selection by class and house price”. Good state schools are in middle-class areas with high house prices.
Which is why Michael Gove was determined to put free schools, which on average have higher standards, in the most deprived areas. Free schools are deliberately ten times more likely to be in poorer areas.
This has had an interesting side-effect according to a New Schools Network report: the average house price rise since 2011 in areas where a free school has opened is 73% more than in areas where there are no free schools. Guido suggests that highlighting this point might help overcome opposition to free schools more than any arguments about standards and social mobility…
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