Sunday, February 05, 2012  Progressive admission policies can
help make all our schools great schools  Britain, or rather
England, remains almost unique amongst OECD countries in the
degree to which the allocation of a secondary school place
determines a child's future life chances. That's why school
'choices', rather than house prices,dominate the discussions at
Islington dinner tables. The angst of middle class parents, as
their children reach the age of secondary transfer, is reaching
epidemic proportions. The pressure put on their children is
indescribable. And every year children from many of the nation's
poorest households, are routinely allocated to schools which
parents with higher aspirations are determined to avoid.  This
is because secondary school admission policies remain the secret
scandal of our education system. Gove et al are trapped by the
rhetoric of parental choice, locked in by a tabloid league table
agenda of what constitutes a `good' school and unwilling to
confront the evidence about s