ATL Comment On Revised Schools Admissions Code

4 December 2008

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said:

“The revised Admissions Code approaches the limit of fairness with its continued adherence to parental preference. There is an inherent contradiction between allowing parents to pick a preferred school and raising the results for children overall since this is best achieved through more balanced social and economic intakes in all schools.

“We are pleased there is an emphasis on admissions authorities being encouraged to talk to the wider community and parents when they set their admission criteria. However, we question imposing this as a duty on schools since they already have a long list of duties to fulfill through their admissions policies and it is unclear which will take priority or how they can all be simultaneously achieved. We would also like clarification of how and who will measure adherence to this duty.

“We agree that it is important for pupils and parents to support the ethos of their school, however, making a commitment to school’s ethos a condition of admission to a school may exclude some children and is open to misuse.”

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