Free schools programme 'underserves' educationally disadvantaged pupils

White working class areas are being particularly ignored by the initiative, which was launched by the coalition government in 2011 to offer more state-funded school places, says the Education Policy Institute (EPI) report.

There are currently 500 free schools across England and this week's Queen's Speech announced that a further 220 will be set up.

But the EPI's Free Schools in England report found that many disadvantaged areas are being ignored.

These include "challenged white communities" and "hampered neighbourhoods", which are among 24 terms the Office for National Statistics uses to describe different social, cultural and economic areas.

Families in these two areas are more likely to live in rented and smaller housing with low educational achievement rates and where parents are less likely to be in employment and more likely to be in low-paid roles. These areas also have a high proportion of white families.

But while these areas are not being covered by free schools the report found that the initiative was successfully targeting other areas of disadvantage, but only those where educational attainment rates are historically high.

These are listed as "inner city cosmopolitan", "urban cultural mix" and "young ethnic communities". Nearly half of all free school pupils come from these three areas.

"These neighbourhood types are among the more economically disadvantaged in England but are not typically educationally disadvantaged: while from disadvantaged backgrounds, they are from local areas which typically perform highly in terms of their academic performance," said the EPI.

"Other disadvantaged areas, however, remain largely overlooked by the free schools programme. Pupils from ‘hampered neighbourhoods' and ‘challenged white communities' are considerably underserved. These are areas where education standards have been historically very low."

EPI deputy head of research Jon Andrews said: "Free schools are often serving communities that are economically disadvantaged, but if we want to truly understand their performance we need a more detailed understanding of these areas.

"The relationship between disadvantage, ethnicity, and first language is complex, and children from the types of areas typically served by free schools often achieve results that are well above average."

He added: "If the government's aim in education is to ‘level-up' opportunity across the country, then it needs to improve outcomes in areas with entrenched underperformance. These areas have not been well served by the free schools programme."

The research also found that the number of pupils with a special educational need or disability (SEND) has increased from 0.3 per cent in 2016 to one per cent of free schools' current intake.

Earlier this year there were 37 special free schools announced, which is expected to boost the proportion further, says the EPI.

But the report found that pupils with an SEND have to travel farther to attend a free school than similar pupils travelling to other types of school.

Nine out of 10 pupils with an SEND travel up to 13.9 miles to attend a special free school, while those attending other state funded special schools travel up to 10.1 miles.

Dr Mary Bousted, joint general Secretary of the National Education Union, said the report was a reminder of the "government's rhetoric" on free schools as being empowering for communities.

Bousted added: "It is a disgrace that such a vast amount of money and resources have been poured into the free schools programme, while other schools have been starved of funds and local authorities have been prevented from being able to meet the challenges of growing pupil numbers effectively by opening their own schools.

"This report once again confirms the trend of free schools' intake not being representative of the areas they open in - primary free schools still do not have as many disadvantaged pupils as might be expected given the areas they serve.

"What we need instead is to restore powers and funding to local authorities so that new schools are opened where they are needed and following proper consultation with existing schools and the local communities."