Hope and possibilities for a desegregated education system? Tales from Canada and England

• In Event: Migrants, Inclusion and Student Agency

Proposal

In accordance with the CIES 2024 theme “The Power of Protest,” our research presentation will examine academic and media discourse on the educational and social inequities promoted by policies and processes of pupil segregation in Canada and England. This is a protest paper which calls for the desegregation of all education systems and has a specific focus on the feasibility of desegregating education in Canada and England.

The direct segregation of pupils based on non-educational identities or socioeconomic background is relatively rare in both Canada and England (exceptions being private schools, single sex schools and schools that provide specialised education for pupils with educational needs). However, segregating pupils using measured attainment (test scores) and/or perceived ability are widely practiced in both countries. If this resulted in clusters of pupils with similar attainment whilst simultaneously being diverse across non-educational identities (ethnicity, gender, sexuality, disability etc) and socio-economic backgrounds, the ‘problem’ of these practices would remain within the field of education. However, this is patently not the case in either Canada or England; segregating pupils using educational measures such as test scores results in indirectly segregating pupils on non-educational identities and social backgrounds. The systems are engineered to reproduce patterns of cultural and socioeconomic power, dominance, and wealth; and therefore, the ‘problem’ is educational, social, and political.

The paper discusses the language and narratives around different systems of pupil segregation that operate between- and within- schools in Canada and England. In Canada, the language of streaming and tracking is commonplace. In England, the language of between-school segregation (of different types of schools) and within-school practices of pupil ability-grouping either across all subjects (streaming) or in separate subjects (setting).

The history and legacy of between- and within-school pupil segregation in Canada and England is summarised. From the eugenic-enthral of post WWII years through progressive change and into the modern marketized educational world, segregating pupils based on measured and/or perceived ability remains a key feature of both education systems.

In Canada’s federalised systems, overt streaming policies are now only found in Alberta and Ontario. In England, after recent failed political attempts to increase their numbers, the selective Grammar school system is now limited to 168 of the 3.5 thousand secondary schools in 36 of the 317 local authority areas. Whilst between-school segregation of pupils is now relatively rare in England, within-school pupil segregation remains widely practiced (particularly for maths, science and languages).

The practices and impact of within-school pupil segregation are poorly understood in both countries because they are largely hidden. By “hidden,” we refer to data that are difficult to collect and/or access for research purposes; for example the pupil and teacher composition of classes for all pupils across all subjects and how these change over time. Some limited evidence of social harm does exist; For instance, in Toronto, Ontario students in lower ability streams are disproportionately populated by Black and LatinX students, particularly boys (Robson et al, 2019). A considerable achievement gap also exists between Indigenous students and non-Indigenous students in Canada, suggesting that streaming practices have also contributed to the lower attainment of Indigenous children (Galbuzi, 2014). In England, discussion of Black Caribbean student’s school experiences often focus on individual ‘underachievement’ rather than systemic, structural and historical racism

that contributed to such underachievement (Gillborn et al. 2017). Recent statistical detail on the structure of attainment data in England has been provided by multilevel analyses from the impact evaluations of maths programmes funded by the Educational Endowment Foundation (EEF); (Demack, 2019; Demack, 2021; Demack et al., 2022). Demack (2021) Illustrates how pupil segregation results in very high clustering of attainment data at the classroom level (around 50% of the variance in attainment). This serves to limit (or manage) the pupil difference (or variance) found within-classrooms. As it is only this within-classroom pupil variance that classroom activity can have any impact on, the system of within-school segregation serves to diminish the educational importance of classroom teaching and learning. Evidence for the educational benefits for such a segregated system are scant and the EEF conclude that the impact of setting/streaming is at best null but probably negative from a meta-analysis of 58 studies between 1938 and 2018 (EEF, 2019).

We will examine how evidence has been compiled for the destreaming movements that have been advanced and how the media has engaged with these topics over recent years, as well as the similarities and differences of these narratives in each country/region. For example, in the province of Ontario, the destreaming of grade 9 mathematics was implemented in the academic year 2021, with additional streamed subjects to be removed in 2023. The move to destream grade 9 courses was based on evidence provided by numerous reports (see, for example, James & Turner 2017) which demonstrated that Black students were greatly overrepresented in lower ability grade 9 courses. However, the destreaming mathematics has not been universally welcomed, with some parents protesting the removal streamed subjects stating that the subject matter is too difficult for their children who may have learning disabilities (Quigley, 2023a). In fact, one school district has made the decision to offer “applied math” again as a result of parental push-back (Quigley, 2023b). In contrast, English media have focused on general findings of “widespread inequality” resulting from between-school segregation, such as the news coverage of recent study released by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (Farquharson, 2022), whilst coverage of the extent, practices and impact of within-school segregation are notably absent.

The discourse around pupil segregation is sometimes dismissed as polemic. T Whilst the evidence points towards the educational and social harm from segregating pupils, in England progress in desegregation can only be claimed between-schools. This began in the 1960s and is still a work in progress. However, within-school segregation is near universal across non-selective state secondary schools in England. In Canada …

The paper summarises evidence of the educational and social impact of segregation in Canada and England, highlights attempts to desegregate, reflects on their success or failure and looks towards future desegregated systems.

Authors

• Karen Robson, Mcmaster University

• Sean Demack, Sheffield Hallam University