ABSTRACT

Ensuring equal access to a broad and balanced curriculum for all students is a key component of a socially just education system. Yet in England, the freedom that 16-year-old students have to choose the GCSE subjects they study has created divisions in the pathways taken by students from different backgrounds. In 2010, a new accountability measure, the English Baccalaureate (EBacc), was introduced to encourage more disadvantaged students to study the ‘core academic’ GCSE subjects. This paper investigates the success of this initiative by analysing the relationship between free school meal (FSM) eligibility, studying the EBacc subjects and GCSE attainment. The findings are used to illustrate the complexities of balancing equal access to academic subjects against fair access to future opportunities, which often depend on good grades, when trying to deliver social justice in an education system that has an entrenched attainment gap.

摘要

确保所有学生平等获得广泛而均衡的课程是社会公正教育体系的关键组成部分。然而在英格兰，16岁的学生必须自由选择他们学习的GCSE科目，这为来自不同背景的学生所选择的途径造成了分歧。2010年，引入了一项新的问责措施，即英语学士学位（EBacc），以鼓励更多处境不利的学生学习“核心学术” GCSE科目。本文通过分析免费学校进餐（FSM）资格，研究EBacc主题与GCSE成绩之间的关系来研究该计划的成功。这些发现用于说明在平等获得学术科目与公平获得未来机会之间取得平衡的复杂性，这通常取决于成绩，