The ALSPAC dataset allows a rich analysis of parental decision-making in terms of the choice of school. This project follows up our earlier project examining the assignment of pupils to schools, by using data on actual school applications made by parents. Using information matched in using spatial identifiers, we will analyse parents’ actual choices in relation to the attributes of the set of schools available.
This study will contrast three different approaches to theorizing school choice. First, we will consider an individual model, with a simple economic calculus comparing the costs and benefits of choice, taking account of relative risk aversion. Second, we will take Boudon’s individual rational choice explanation, which adds in an analysis of social capital. These approaches have been applied to differential staying-on rates in post compulsory education; we will apply them to school choice. Third, Bourdieu’s ideas on class reproduction have been used in the literature to argue that there are different structuring frameworks of school choice for middle class and working class parents. We will compare the Bourdieu model that emphasizes non-individual, social class explanations with the two approaches based on individual rational choice. The aim is to formulate testable hypotheses from this conceptual comparison that will inform future empirical work on this issue.