Ruth Lupton

• London School of Economics and Political Science

This book explores the issue of social exclusion. It asks three main questions: How can social exclusion be measured? What are its main determinants or influences? And what policies can reduce social exclusion? The authors aim to consider how a focus on social exclusion may alter the policy questions that are most relevant by fostering debate in go...

This paper assesses how far residential moves can result in improvement or deterioration of the housing and neighbourhood circumstances for families with young children. It uses data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study concentrating on the time between infancy and age 5, 2001 to 2006. First, we ask which families moved home and in what circumstance...

This chapter analyses spending, outputs and outcomes in relation to schools in England between 2007/8 and 2014/15. Schools were relatively protected from the public spending cuts made by the Coalition government from 2010 onwards, while rapid and extensive reforms were made in almost every aspect of policy. Moves towards a broader vision of schooli...

This chapter analyses spending, outputs and outcomes in relation to further education and skills in England between 2007/8 and 2014/5, as well as policies and trends relating to access to higher education. Expenditure on further education and adult skills training was heavily cut by the Coalition government, after expansion under Labour. Numbers of...

This chapter examines inequalities in economic and social outcomes between English regions, and between richer and poorer neighbourhoods, in the period following the financial crisis. It also looks at the policies of Labour and Coalition governments towards spatial inequalities. It finds that despite the finance-led recession, London continued to p...

The book offers a data-rich, evidence-based analysis of the impact Labour and Coalition government policies have had on inequality and on the delivery of services such as health, education, adult social care, housing and employment, in the wake of the greatest recession of our time. The authors provide an authoritative analysis of recent approaches...

This paper addresses the problem of measuring neighbourhood characteristics and change when working with individual level datasets to understand the effects of residential mobility. Currently available measures in Britain are in various respects unsuitable for this purpose. The paper explores a new indicator of small area poverty: the Unadjusted Me...

In the past decade, England has not experienced the radical neglect and demolition of public housing that We Call These Projects Home describes happening in the United States. The English social housing sector has declined in size, primarily by sales to sitting tenants, but it remains a significant part of the housing system. Nonetheless, in London...

This paper starts from the propositions that (a) pedagogy is central to the achievement of socially just education and (b) there are existing pedagogical approaches that can contribute to more socially just outcomes. Given the ostensible commitments of the current English Government to reducing educational inequality and to the importance of teachi...

Existing research demonstrates the impact of context on school organisation and management, curriculum and pedagogy and on student peer relations. New developments in English education policy will devolve more responsibility for dealing with these issues to headteachers. Headteachers’ readings of their contexts and the responses that they make are...

This report highlights the regional dimension of educational inequalities in the EU. Drawing on a wide range of regional data, largely at the NUTS 2 level, the report paints a picture of, outcomes and performance in the EU. The report looks at nature of understanding and evidence of regionally based inequalities in education, taking the view th...

Government policies to reduce teenage parenthood are, in part, informed by a belief in neighbourhood effects, although the current evidence for neighbourhood effects on teenage parenthood is remarkably weak. This chapter highlights the conceptual problems in the existing research around the importance of place and geography. It critiques the fact t...

Against the background of the ‘Inspiring Communities’ programme to raise ‘community level’ educational aspirations in England, this article considers whether the existing evidence about place and aspirations suggests that it will be beneficial. We address three questions: Do neighbourhoods have an influence on educational attainment? Are ‘community...

Multiple contexts interact to position any school on a spectrum from cumulatively advantaged to cumulatively disadvantaged. This article discusses a study of the contextual advantages and disadvantages experienced by primary schools in the south east of England, concentrating especially on schools in the least deprived 5% of schools nationally. The...

This study draws on the Millennium Cohort Study to explore the housing and neighbourhood circumstances of children born in England in 2000 at the age of 5 in 2006. The majority of children experienced good housing conditions. Those in social rented homes, and to a lesser extent in private rented homes too, were markedly disadvantaged in terms of fa...

This paper reports the accounts of fifteen headteachers of primary schools in one local authority in the South East of England, including headteachers of schools that are amongst the most advantaged five per cent of schools in England and those amongst the most disadvantaged twenty per cent. The headteachers reflect on the nature of the intakes and...

The paper examines variations in the extent of special education needs (SEN) in different socio-economic contexts, drawing on data from 46 English primary schools. It examines the implications of variations in SEN for individual pupils and for school organisation and processes. It reviews funding allocations for SEN and what they mean for the provi...

This paper is a forerunner to an empirical study of neighbourhood effects on teenage parenthood using the British Cohort Study (BCS70). It reviews evidence for the existence of such effects within the quantitative 'neighbourhood effects' literature. It also draws on the wider literature on teenage parenthood to identify three explanatory frameworks...

For the first time in 2008 the Annual School Census (ASC) required all schools to provide pupil information on the language spoken at home. Our analysis focuses on children attending state schools in London. Over 300 languages are spoken by London pupils, around 60% of London pupils are English speakers however, there are over 40 languages spoken b...

This report, by a consortium of researchers, is the final output from a three year evaluation evaluation of the Mixed Communities Initiative demonstration projects. It covers the period August 2006 to July 2009.

This article examines the adoption, by the New Labour government, of a mixed communities approach to the renewal of disadvantaged neighbourhoods in England. It argues that while there are continuities with previous policy, the new approach represents a more neoliberal policy turn in three respects: its identification of concentrated poverty as the...

The study comprises a national activity survey of the distribution of time spent on various policing tasks among a sample of over 1,600 community constables and general duty officers. The results of the survey show that about one-third of a typical tour of duty of community constables and about two-fifths of the typical duty tour of general duty of...

Introduction In this chapter, we reflect on education policy in 2008 in the light of the events and debates of 1948. We concentrate on events in England, although contrasts with the devolved policies of other parts of the UK also feature in our analysis. 1948 was a quiet year in the war on ignorance, with Butler's Education Act already four years o...

This chapter examines the way in which education policy has attempted to tackle the evil of ‘ignorance’ and promote social mobility, from the perspectives of policy in 1948 and 2008. It points out that the Butler education reforms were among the first raft of legislation which implemented the post-war Beveridge welfare state, and that these reforms...

This chapter examines the success of education policy – Labour's top priority in every manifesto – in reducing inequalities in educational attainment in compulsory and post-compulsory education. It looks at what happened to educational inequality during this period of investment, growth, and reform. The chapter adopts a conventional approach used i...

The Mixed Communities Initiative (MCI) was announced in January 2005, as a new and more comprehensive approach to tackling area disadvantage, bringing together housing and neighbourhood renewal strategies to reduce concentrations of deprivation, stimulate economic development and improve public services. This study sets out the baseline position a...

Since 2005, the English government has adopted a policy of regenerating disadvantaged neighbourhoods by reconstructing them as mixed communities, in which schools appealing to higher income residents are a key feature. This creates some difficulties for those concerned with social justice, who support the notion of integrated schools and neighbourh...

This report explores how young people in two inner-city multicultural secondary schools develop their sense of school belonging, attitudes to diversity and their supportive and close relationships to others. The results are based on analysis of quantitative survey data collected from more than 1500 students in our two schools and qualitative interv...

This is the first detailed study of the recent geographical distribution of poverty and wealth in Britain. It presents the most comprehensive estimates of the changing levels of poverty and wealth from the late 1960s. A wide range of secondary data is used, beginning with the first national Poverty in the UK survey of Peter Townsend and colleagues,...

Although it is a truism that schools differ, some ways in which they do so are more prominent in academic and policy debate than others. In particular there is usually much more discussion of variation in features of schools’ internal organisation and practice (e.g. aspects of leadership, management or pedagogy) than of the diverse local social and...

This report explores how young people in two inner-city multicultural secondary schools develop their sense of school belonging, attitudes to diversity and their supportive and close relationships to others. The results are based on analysis of quantitative survey data collected from more than 1500 students in our two schools and qualitative interv...

Research is increasingly highlighting the influence of school contexts on school processes and student achievement. This article reviews a range of social justice rationales for taking school contexts into better account, and highlights the challenges contextualisation currently poses for practice and for policy. It notes important constraints on c...

This important report presents a challenging mix of debate and findings about how mixed income new communities (MINCs) are working for families. This has a number of implications for Government, local authorities and RSLs, housebuilders and the providers of local public services.

Despite the high profile given to poor neighbourhoods in the English government's social inclusion policy, little is known about how many poor neighbourhoods there are, how many people live in them, whether their number is growing or diminishing, or in what ways they are getting better, or worse, compared with other neighbourhoods. This article exa...

Social justice in education demands, at the very least, that all students should have access to the same quality of educational processes, even if their outcomes turn out to be unequal. Yet schools in the poorest neighbourhoods are consistently adjudged to provide a lower quality of education than those in more advantaged areas. Based on a qualitat...

We provide evidence on the extent of ethnic segregation experienced by children across secondary schools and neighbourhoods (wards). Using 2001 Schools Census and Population Census data we employ the indices of dissimilarity and isolation and compare patterns of segregation across nine ethnic groups, and across Local Education Authorities in Englan...

One of the priorities of the New Labour government was education. Well before the 1997 General Election, the Labour party expressed its agenda of making education a top priority. In his 1996 speech, Tony Blair said that the three highest priorities in government were ‘education, education, education’. In both the 1997 and 2001 election pledges, edu...

This chapter focuses on New Labour's efforts to reverse the long-running negative impact on urban conditions of concentrated poverty within deprived areas and to break the connection between poor social and physical conditions. The first section of the chapter discusses the situation New Labour inherited and the development of the National Strategy...

This report was jointly commissioned by the Neighbourhood Renewal Unit (NRU) in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) and the Economic and Social Research Council. It contains both full and summary reports of a literature review of neighbourhood change, undertaken with the primary aim of establishing what is known about neighbourhood chang...

We provide evidence on the extent of ethnic segregation experienced by children across secondary schools and neighbourhoods (wards). Using 2001 Schools Census and Population Census data we employ the indices of dissimilarity and isolation and compare patterns of segregation across nine ethnic groups, and across Local Education Authorities in Englan...

We provide evidence on the extent of ethnic segregation experienced by children across secondary schools and neighbourhoods (wards). Using 2001 Schools Census and Population Census data we employ the indices of dissimilarity and isolation and compare patterns of segregation across nine ethnic groups, and across Local Education Authorities in Englan...

We provide evidence on the extent of ethnic segregation experienced by children across secondary schools and neighbourhoods (wards). Using 2001 Schools Census and Population Census data we employ the indices of dissimilarity and isolation and compare patterns of segregation across nine ethnic groups, and across Local Education Authorities in Englan...

The London School of Economics has a founding commitment to understanding the causes of social and economic change. It works to show changes in patterns of development internationally, whether at a large or small scale. Within the UK and in the capital in particular, it tries to keep a finger on the pulse of change and to influence both directly an...

This paper is the second in a series of Census Briefs produced by CASE and inspired by the work of the Brookings Institution in the United States whose Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy has played a creative role in informing and in part helping shape the recovery of US cities. The series aims to help advance the debate on the future of citie...

Both educational attainment and school quality are typically lower in disadvantaged areas than others and much recent policy attention has been focused on each. This paper looks at the quality problem, exploring the relationships between disadvantaged contexts, what schools do, and the quality of schooling that they provide. The findings suggest th...

Area-based programmes have long been a feature of urban policy in the UK. One rationale is that they are an effective means to target poor people. Area deprivation indices are used to identify areas for targeting. This paper reviews the different results produced by these indices. It then examines the effectiveness of the current Index of Multiple...

Economists and policy researchers associated with the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at the London School of Economics explore the meaning of social exclusion, quantify its extent, analyze some its causes and relationships between them, examine the policy and practice of attempts to tackle it, and ponder whether current research directions...

This book explores the issue of social exclusion. It asks three main questions: How can social exclusion be measured? What are its main determinants or influences? And what policies can reduce social exclusion? The authors aim to consider how a focus on social exclusion may alter the policy questions that are most relevant by fostering debate in go...

This book explores the issue of social exclusion. It asks three main questions: How can social exclusion be measured? What are its main determinants or influences? And what policies can reduce social exclusion? The authors aim to consider how a focus on social exclusion may alter the policy questions that are most relevant by fostering debate in go...

This book explores the issue of social exclusion. It asks three main questions: How can social exclusion be measured? What are its main determinants or influences? And what policies can reduce social exclusion? The authors aim to consider how a focus on social exclusion may alter the policy questions that are most relevant by fostering debate in go...

This book explores the issue of social exclusion. It asks three main questions: How can social exclusion be measured? What are its main determinants or influences? And what policies can reduce social exclusion? The authors aim to consider how a focus on social exclusion may alter the policy questions that are most relevant by fostering debate in go...

In November 2000, a research team consisting of Ruth Lupton and Dr Andrew Wilson of CASE and Paul Turnbull, Tiggey May and Hamish Warburton of the Criminal Policy Research Unit (CPRU) at South Bank University (SBU) was commissioned by the UK Anti-Drugs Co-ordination Unit (UKADCU) to undertake a short study of drug markets in deprived neighbourhoods...

This report presents the findings of a study of retail drug markets in deprived residential neighbourhoods, undertaken in late 2000/early 2001. The aims of the study were as follows: • To identify the extent of drug market activity in such neighbourhoods and to describe its nature and scale. • To draw out any associations between types of area and...

Are-based policies have become a significant part of the new Labour Government's approach to tackling social exclusion. This paper reviews the long-running debate about whether area-based policies can make a significant impact on poverty and social exclusion. There is a strong tradition of academic work that argues that this is a misguided strategy...

The paper presents the findings of a national survey of the allocation and use of community constables among police forces in England and Wales. The methods used involved distributing a self-administered questionnaire to a sample of permanent beat officers and general duty officers in thirty-nine of the forty-three forces. The research found that t...

Under the New Labour government, the neighbourhood emerged prominently as a site for policy interventions and as a space for civic activity, resulting in the widespread establishment of neighbourhood-level structures for decision-making and service delivery. The future existence and utility of these arrangements is now unclear under the Coalition g...

This research draws on four British birth cohort studies to examine the role of social housing for four generations of families since the second world war. It describes how housing for families changed over time, and explores the relationship between social housing, family circumstances, and experiences for the children when they reached adultho...

Objective: To compare patterns of leaving the parental home and early adult housing experiences of two British cohorts. Data: Two birth cohorts: the 1958 National Child Development Study (NCDS) and the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70). Methods: Sequence Analysis supported by Event History Analysis. Key Findings: Despite only 12 years separating bo...