Who defers and delays entry to primary school?
Join this event to hear Tammy Campbell explore the patterns of those who seek school entry deferment.
Who defers and delays entry to primary school?
15 Dec 2022, 15:00 – 16:00
Event recording
Within the ‘normal’ school year-group cohort, summer-born children are proportionally much younger than autumn-borns at the usual point of school entry. Since 2014, families’ right to request later entry, particularly for summer-borns, has been enshrined in national guidance.
Deferred entry may benefit certain children – potentially including some who were born premature and some who have ‘special educational needs’ and/or disabilities (SEND). However, the ‘right to request’ might also exacerbate inequalities, if more ‘advantaged’ families tend to access it.
Existing evidence on patterns of entry is not nationally representative, probably contains biased responses, and does not consider the interaction between child-level factors and family circumstances. Among children who may plausibly be better served by education with the cohort below, are those who are from ‘advantaged’ families more likely to follow this pathway?
Tammy has used the National Pupil Database to fill gaps and build a comprehensive sense of patterns of school entry over the past decade, focusing on family income-level and home language, and children’s SEND. In this event, she will describe relationships between these family and child-level factors, and disparities by Local Authority. She will also discuss implications for the success, or otherwise, and continued implementation of the ‘right to request’ later school entry.
This event will be particularly useful for researchers, teachers and policy makers.
Due to rail industrial action this event is now online only.
CEPEO seminar series
The Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities (CEPEO) hosts an online research seminar series where guest speakers present cutting edge research. Join policymakers, researchers and practitioners to explore the pressing questions of our time in education policy and equalising opportunities.
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Dr Tammy Campbell
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow
LSE’s Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion
She completed her PhD at the UCL IOE and was previously a Government Social Researcher, and before that, worked with children and young people. Her main interests span childhood and education; social, structural, and psychological processes causing inequalities and shaping lives; intended and unintended ways in which policies play out.