The performance of grant maintained schools in England: an experiment in autonomy

The paper examines the recruitment and examination performance from 1991 to 1996 of Grant Maintained (GM) compared to Local Education Authority (LEA) schools using data for almost 300 non-selective schools in 6 LEAs assembled as part of the Impact of Competition on Secondary Schools (ICOSS) study. The data include pupil rolls, examination results, free school meals and budgets. On a straightforward comparison the proportion of Year 11 students obtaining five or more grades A* to C and A* to G at GCSE and the rate of improvement in the former measure was higher for GM schools. A level results were very similar. However, when factors which account for differences in GCSE examination performance are statistically analysed, it was found that GM schools' apparently superior performance can be attributed to having lower proportions of socially disadvantaged students and to reducing this proportion over time. Being a GM school or number of years as a GM school were not statistically significant in accounting for examination performance. Given the costs of the GM schools policy, these findings suggest that its value for money was poor. The paper concludes by suggesting reasons for the absence of superior performance by GM schools.