Raising school performance in the league tables (Part 2): barriers to responsiveness in three disadvantaged schools

Woods, Philip A. and Levacic, Rosalind (2002). Raising school performance in the league tables (Part 2): barriers to responsiveness in three disadvantaged schools. British Educational Research Journal, 28(2) pp. 227–247.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01411920120122167

Abstract

This is the second of two articles drawing from the Economic and Social Research Council-funded Impact of Competition on Secondary Schools study. The first article reported quantitative data concerning the relationship between the rate of school improvement and degree of social disadvantage amongst school student communities. This article examines qualitative data from three case-study schools in order to illuminate the barriers to responsiveness that face socially disadvantaged schools and impede school improvement. Attention is drawn to the cumulative impact of contextual influences, which interact with internal school factors, particularly the influence of local school hierarchies and processes of labelling that affect students and their learning experiences.