영국 교육정보

중등학교 배정 발표
- 차관이 이의제기 권장 -

□ 중등학교 학교배정 발표
- 20% 정도의 학생이 제 1희망 학교에 배정되지 못한 것으로 조사됨
- 영국의 중등학교는 공립 comprehensive school의 경우는 배정 희망원을 받아 지역 및 학교의 선정기준에 의해 배정되고 있음 (grammar school과 사립학교는 해당되지 않음)

□ 이의제기 권장
- 학교가족어린이부의 Jim Knight 학교국 차관(Schools Minister)이 "배정 학교에 불만과 이의가 있으면 항의할 것을 권장“ 한다고 말함
- 이의 신청에 따른 번거로움 때문에 포기하는 경우가 많은데 확실한 이유가 있으면 재심요청(appeal) 할 것을 권장한다고 함
- 이의 신청을 할 만한 충분한 사유가 없는 부모들까지 재심을 청구함으로써 불필요한 분란과 과도한 행정력을 낭비할 것이란 우려

□ 배경 및 현황
- Brighton과 Hove 지역에서 올 해 처음으로 도입한 추첨식 배정(lottery) 결과 이전의 16%에 불과하던 1희망 학교 탈락 비율이 22%로 높아지는 현상을 보인 것에 대한 교육부의 입장 표명
- 학교 배정의 공정성과 학부모 선택 기회 확대를 명분으로 추진된 추첨식 배정
- 다른 지역들도 Brighton 지역의 배정방법에 대한 반응을 주목하고 있는 상황
- The Times지가 36개 지역에 대한 조사에서 20%의 학생들이 원하는 학교에 배정되지 못한 것으로 나타남. 일부 지역 특히 런던의 경우는 25% 정도에 이름
- 2005년의 경우 57,000명의 학부모가 이의를 신청하고 이 중에서 42,000건에 대해 재심의(appeal hearing)를 하고, 15,150건의 신청이 받아들여졌음

- 지역에 따라 1지망 학교에서 탈락한 비율이 많은 차이를 보이고 있어서 런던의 Wansworth 51%, Kensington and Chelsea 59%, Barnet 63% 만이 1지망 학교에 배정
- Birmingham 65%, Kent 70% 1지망 학교 배정 비율인 반면 West Sussex 92.3%, Norfolk 93.6%
- 560,000명의 중등학교 배정 대상자 중 100,000명 정도가 1지망 학교에 배정되지 못함

□ 비판 의견
- 이의제기를 처리해야 하는 학교와 지역교육청의 불만
- 교원노조에서는 정부의 학부모 선택권 보장이라는 정치적 수사를 위해 학부모들에게 비현실적인 기대감을 갖게 하고 행정력을 낭비하는 것이라고 비판
- ASCL(Association of School and College Leaders)의 John Dunford 사무국장 : “지원 경쟁률이 높은 학교들은 가르치는데 쓰여야 할 시간들을 입학 결정을 정당화하느라 소비하게 될 것이다”고 비판
- Jim Knight 차관의 말이 아니더라도 학교배정의 공정성과 투명성을 강조하는 새로 도입된 입학규정(admission code) 하에서 이의 신청이 봇물을 이룰 것이라는 걱정을 하고 있던 상황

□ 출처 : The Times (08.03.04 : Parents urged to challenge schools decisions), (08.03.05 : Many thousands will miss out on their first choice of school)


<08.03.04. 기사원문>
Parents urged to challenge schools decisions

Parents unhappy with the secondary school allocated to their children are being urged by the Schools Minister to appeal against the decision. His words come as a survey by The Times finds that one in five pupils will miss out on his or her first choice today.
Jim Knight told The Times that many parents would feel “let down” by the schools admissions systems in their areas. “It’s not the end of the road,” he said. “I know parents might not want the hassle of appeals but I urge them to do so if they feel they have a strong case.”
His comments risk raising expectations for thousands of parents who have little hope of meeting the criteria for a successful appeal. They are also likely to anger some schools and local authorities that will have to meet the extra bureaucratic demands.

Union leaders criticised the Government’s rhetoric on choice and the appeals system, saying that it gave parents unrealistic expectations and created wasteful bureaucracy. John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Oversubscribed schools spend many, many hours, which should be used for teaching and learning, on justifying admissions decisions. This is unfair to current pupils and a waste of their time.”
Mr Knight was speaking as it emerged that the first local authority-wide experiment of allocating places at oversubscribed schools by lottery has backfired.
Figures to be published today by Brighton and Hove council will show that 22 per cent of children have missed out on their first choice of school this year, compared with just over 16 per cent under previous admissions rules. Its mission was to bring greater fairness and parental choice. Other councils will be watching to see if the experiment leads to a big increase in appeals. Brighton and Hove council expects that it will.
A Times survey of 36 councils suggests that almost 20 per cent of five families have failed to get children into their preferred schools.
Today is “admissions day” and about 560,000 children will be receiving their secondary school offers this morning. if the Brighton figures are replicated across all 150 local authorities in England, about 100,000 families could be preparing to challenge the places allotted to their children, nearly double the number in 2005.
In some local authorities, mainly in London, four in ten were not granted their first choice.
Even before Mr Knight’s intervention, some councils said yesterday that they expected a flood of appeals following the introduction of a tougher new admissions code, which demands more transparency in the allocation of places.
In an unusual departure from the standard government rhetoric on the importance of parental choice on schools, Mr Knight conceded that any such choice was limited. He said: “Choice is not about a guaranteed place at a first-choice school. It’s about having real options in your town.”
Although limited, choice now was greater than when Labour came to power in 1997, he added. “A decade ago a child had a one in two chance of going to a low-performing school – with less than 30 per cent of pupils getting five GCSEs, including English and maths. That’s down to a quarter.”
Both the Government and local authorities insisted that they would be able to cope with any increase in the volume of admissions appeals, although none could say with certainty how many there would be this year.
In 2005, the last year for which figures are available, 57,000 parents lodged an appeal after their children were denied places at their preferred school. Just under 42,000 cases made it to an appeal hearing and, of these, 15,150 appeals were successful.
Michael Gove, the Shadow Schools Minister, said that urging parents to mount appeals was an admission of failure. He added that a Conservative government would end allocation of school places by lottery, saying that the system, used in Brighton and Hove and in parts of Hertfordshire, London and Derby was unfair and made parents feel powerless. “Lotteries do not improve parental choice,” he said. “More parents have been disappointed and this system [in Brighton] has not worked.” However, he stopped short of ordering the Conservative-controlled council in Brighton to scrap its lottery system.


<08.03.05 기사원문>
Many thousands will miss out on their first choice of school

Nearly half of children in some local authorities in England have missed out on their first choice of secondary school this year, according to a survey of local authorities by The Times.
London authorities did particularly badly. Only 51 per cent of parents in Wandsworth, 59 per cent in Kensington and Chelsea and 63 per cent in Barnet got into their first-choice school, while Westminster disappointed nearly a third of applicants.
In Birmingham 35 per cent did not get their first choice, while in Kent 30 per cent of children were disappointed.
Other councils claimed that almost everyone got into their first choice. Only 7.7 per cent of children in West Sussex and 6.4 per cent in Norfolk did not get offered a place at the school they wanted.
Of the 560,000 children applying for a secondary school place in England for next September it is estimated that 100,000 did not get their first choice.
The figures illustrate the scale of the challenge facing the Government in making good Labour’s pledge that all parents will have access to a good school for their children.
Dozens of disappointed parents contacted The Times yesterday to express their frustration over school admissions. Most were not given any of their preferred schools.
One woman said that her daughter had been allocated a place at a school 20 miles from her home, more than one hour’s journey by car each way and necessitating a round trip of 200 miles a week.
Several had been given places in schools that they had never heard of in neighbouring authorities.
One said that she now has four children going to four different secondary schools, and several others had been allocated no place at all
Many had no intention of sending their child to the school that had been allocated to them, with several saying that they would educate them at home. Others were busy searching on the internet for a private school.
Yesterday the independent school Brighton College announced that there had been a 43 per cent rise in inquiries from parents after the disappointment of local parents following the introduction of a lottery system for allocating school places in Brighton and Hove.
Under the new system 22 per cent of parents missed out on their first choice of secondary school, compared with 16 per cent last year.
Richard Cairns, the headmaster, said that the college would break a 160-year-old tradition by admitting pupils at the age of 11 instead of 13 in order to accommodate the surge in demand, and create an initial extra class of 24 pupils.
At the same time, unions issued a warning that parental disappointment has been heightened by the creation of a single nationwide admissions day, on which parents throughout England learn if their child has a place at their preferred school.
John Dunford, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the focus on an admissions day had “raised the stakes”, with more parents now expecting to be able to make a choice in schools and more likely to feel let down. Dr Dunford also criticised comments in The Times yesterday from Jim Knight, the Schools Minister, that disappointed parents should use the appeals process.
“Parents who have not got their first-choice school should not take up the minister’s suggestion and appeal automatically. The vast majority will be disappointed. It will overload the system and waste a lot of time for head teachers and governors.
“Only if parents feel that the admissions process has not been properly followed should they appeal,” he said.