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From assisted places to free schools: subsidizing private schools for the northern English middle classes

Gamsu, Sol

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Abstract

This paper examines how the English educational state has consistently acted to support private schooling in areas where fee-paying schools would be otherwise financially unviable. Educational data on private school participation since the 2008 financial crisis reveals the stark regional divides between London and the South-East of England and the rest of the country. This analysis of contemporary trends is framed within a historical understanding of the spatial dualism of the English middle class in relation to education. The paper traces the policy lineages of the spatial logic of state subsidies for elite models of schooling in northern England, noting the continuity between Direct Grant grammar schools, the Assisted Places scheme and the recent conversion of private schools into state-funded academy or free schools. A review of applications from private schools to become free schools highlights, how differentiated local class structures affect the viability of elite education without state support.

Citation

Gamsu, S. (2020). From assisted places to free schools: subsidizing private schools for the northern English middle classes. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 41(8), 1093-1114. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2020.1833180

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Oct 3, 2020
Online Publication Date Oct 16, 2020
Publication Date 2020-11
Deposit Date Jun 19, 2020
Publicly Available Date Oct 27, 2020
Journal British Journal of Sociology of Education
Print ISSN 0142-5692
Electronic ISSN 1465-3346
Publisher Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 41
Issue 8
Pages 1093-1114
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2020.1833180

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
Advance online version © 2020 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.




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