University of Warwick institutional repository: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap/36338 This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. SCHOOL ETHOS AND ACADEMIC PRODUCTIVITY: THE CATHOLIC EFFECT Andrew B. Morris Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Warwick Institute of Education July 1996 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The research on which this study has been based would not have been possible without the generous co-operation of the Archdiocese of Birmingham Diocesan Schools Commission, the 'Loamshire' local education authority and its officers, the headteachers who allowed me access to their schools and provided valuable data, and the many individual teachers, governors, parents and pupils who talked to me and allowed me to interview them during the case studies. I am most grateful for their assistance. Individuals in two organisations were especially helpful. Harsha Desai and her colleagues in the 'Loamshire' LEA research and management information department, who processed much of my data, and officers in the OFSTED research and analysis unit, who gave me access to their research comparing the performance of Catholic and other secondary schools in England and Wales. In particular, I wish to thank my supervisor, Professor David Halpin, now of Goldsmiths College, London, for his support, advice and his ability to act as a critical friend as I struggled to develop objectivity by "making the familiar become unfamiliar". DECLARATION Parts of chapter three and seven make use of data which form the basis of two published papers by Andrew Morris, 'The Academic Performance of Catholic Schools' (School Organisation, 14, 1. pp. 81-89) and 'The Catholic School Ethos: its effect on post-16 student academic achievement' (Educational Studies, 21, 1. pp. 67-83). However, all analysis and discussion of the data that has been used in this research is original. SUMMARY This thesis is a study of the comparative academic effectiveness of Catholic schools in England. It uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches to investigate the hypothesis that, pupils who attend Catholic comprehensive schools will, all things being equal, achieve higher levels of academic attainment in GCSE examinations at the age of sixteen than similar pupils attending other maintained comprehensive schools. The study reviews the published findings of research in this field in England and the United States of America and reports previously unpublished analysis of the results of school inspections made under Section 9 of the Education Act 1992 by OFSTED. There has been very little empirical research into the academic effectiveness of Catholic schools in England. Findings that have been reported have arisen from studies which were focused on other issues and this facet of the results has not been investigated further. In contrast, in the USA there has been a significant quantity of large scale research indicating the academic superiority of schools in the Catholic sector. The research uses a simple form of multi-level modelling as the main analytical tool to compare the performance of pupils (n = 2335) attending eighteen comprehensive schools in a medium sized shire county. In addition, a case study approach is used to compare two different models of Catholic school in the sample to highlight factors which may contribute to their differing levels of academic productivity. The findings partly confirm previous research that has indicated the superiority of Catholic schools in England and extends understanding of the possible causes of that superiority. The study suggests areas for further research and possible applications of the findings for Church authorities and other providers of maintained schools. CONTENTS Preface 1 Section One - School Effectiveness and Catholic Education 8 1 Two Decades of School Effectiveness Research: So What Has Changed? 10 2 Current Orthodoxy: Characteristics of Effective Schools 27 3 By Their Fruits You Will Know Them: The Effectiveness and Outcomes of Catholic Schools 56 4 Academic Effectiveness and the Catholic Effect: Contrasting Cases in One Shire County 80 Section Two - Catholic Education: Concepts and Cases 118 5 Community, Culture and Social Control: The Distinctive Nature of Catholic Schools 124 6 Researching the Academic Effectiveness of Schools 164 7 Same Mission, Same Methods? A Case Study of Two Catholic Schools 183 Section Three - Conclusions and Implications 271 8 Models of Effectiveness: A Summary of the Main Research Findings 272 9 Diverse Society, Diverse Solutions? Implications of the Study 287 Appendices 295 Appendix 1 - Multi-Level Analysis: Procedure for Comparing School Effectiveness 295 Appendix 2- Interview Schedules 299 Appendix 3 - Catholic and Other Schools: OFSTED data 302 References 307 TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS Table I Non-verbal Reasoning - Population Distribution 91 Socio-economic Status - Council Tax Bandings Table II@ Percentage of County Population by District 92 Socio-economic Status - Council Tax Bandings Table II® County Population by District 92 Table H(iU) Socio-economic Status - Council Tax Bandings 93 Figure I Example - 'Box and Whisker' Graph 95 Table III 1992 GCSE Examination Results - Government Data 96 Table W Academic Achievement - 1992 GCSE Examination Results Ignoring Pupil Background Factors 99 Table V Aggregated Data: Mean Scores - Year 11 - 1992 100 Figure 2 Aggregated Data - Ability Profile (Box and Whisker Analysis) 101 Figure 3 Aggregated Data - Socio-economic Profile (Box and Whisker Analysis) 102 Table VI School Characteristics - Non-verbal Reasoning 103 Figure 4 Examination Achievement and Ability 104 Figure 5(a) Examination Achievement and Ability - School Comparisons 1 105 Figure 5(b) Examination Achievement and Ability - School. Comparisons 2 106 Figure 6 Examination Achievement and Ability - Gender Comparisons 107 Figure 7 Examination Achievement and Socio-economic Status 108 Table VII(i) Pupil Distribution by Social Status and Ability 109 Table VII(ii) Pupil Distribution by Social Status and Ability 109 Table VIII(i) Pupil Distribution by Social Status and Ability - School Comparison 110 Table VIII(ii) Pupil Distribution by Social Status and Ability - School Comparison 110 Table IX School Performance - Academic Effectiveness 111 Figure 8 School Effectiveness - A Comparison 113 Table X Pupil Distribution by Social Status - St. Peter's v St. Paul's 227 Table XI 'A' Level Religious Studies/Theology - St. Peter's 249 Table XII Pupil Exclusions 1987-1992 256 Table XIII Pupil GCSE Score by Social Status and Ability County Average - All Pupils 263 Table XIV@ Pupil GCSE Score by Social Status and Ability - St. Peter's v County 264 Table XIV(ii) Pupil GCSE Score by Social Status and Ability - St. Paul's v County 264 Table XV Pupils Average GCSE Score by Social Status - St. Paul's +/- County 265 Table XVI Pupils Average GCSE Score by Social Status - St. Peter's +/- County 265 Table XVII@ St. Peter's +/- County Average - Girls GCSE Score by Social Status and Ability 266 Table XVII(ii) St. Peter's +1- County Average - Boys GCSE Score by Social Status and Ability 266 Table XVIII Catholic Schools and Academic Effectiveness - Organisational Structure 275 Table XIX Catholic Schools and Academic Effectiveness - Teaching Methods 276 Table XX Catholic Schools and Academic Effectiveness - School Community and Social Cohesion 281 Table XXI Catholic Schools and Academic Effectiveness - School Community and Pupil Characteristics 283 PREFACE Schools provide for society one of the major formal ways in which the knowledge, understanding and achievements of one generation are handed on to the next. They are an important mechanism for developing and transmitting values, attitudes and a vision of the very nature of humanity which, in turn, help create the type of society in which they function. When an educational system is deficient there is good reason for concern. If it breaks down, society itself is threatened. The current perceived shortcomings of the educational system in England have been widely publicised in recent years but there is no consensus as to the necessary reforms or even an agreed theoretical basis for debate beyond the acceptance that 'good' schools are necessary for a healthy society. This failure may be exacerbated by conceptual confusion arising from the variety of terms used to describe school performance which often indiscriminately mingle statements or value judgements about the nature of education with descriptions referring to the ability of schools to achieve specific outcome targets. The former belongs in the realm of educational philosophy, the latter is more to do with physical measurement. Thus it could be possible for a school to be highly effective in helping pupils achieve educational targets yet be deemed to be failing because it does not conform to a value judgement of what constitutes 'good' educational practice at any one particular time. The seminal work of Rutter et al (1979) in the secondary sector of education marked the beginning of a profound change in the climate of opinion in England concerning the importance of the independent effects of schools on academic progress and levels of pupil achievement. The equally significant work of Mortimore et al (1988) in the primary field 1 supported the findings of Rutter and his colleagues in showing that schools do have a noticeable influence on the academic attainment of individual pupils. Consequently, it is now generally accepted that organisational factors are important variables affecting the quality of education provided in schools and there is a considerable body of research studies showing their probable nature and extent. Though school effects do not exert as great an influence as home background, the extent to which individual schools can enhance or depress pupil performance has become a focus of public attention in recent years.