The impact of the current market for education on different social groups will be explored at a one day conference, Education and the Neighbourhood, in Bristol today [Friday, 9 January]. 

The conference is hosted by the ESRC Centre for Neighbourhood Research, a collaboration between Bristol University’s School for Policy Studies and Glasgow University’s Department of Urban Studies.

Subjects under discussion will include schooling and neighbourhood regeneration, the relationship between school distance and house prices, and widening participation in UK Higher Education.     

The conference will explore how the market for education, involving parental choice, published league tables and specialist schools, has had a profound effect on local housing markets, with a price premium in neighbourhoods around strongly performing schools. 

At the same time, education is regarded as an important key to overcoming social exclusion in more deprived neighbourhoods and thus the conference will also examine how educational aspiration and attainment varies between people of different social background in terms of both schooling and university applications.

The conference takes place from 10.00 to 16.00 at the Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel, College Green, Bristol.