Segregation on the rise

SEGREGATION in Halton’s schools has risen in recent years according to the latest figures.

The dissimilarity index, the most commonly used measure by social researchers, rose in Year 7 pupils from 15.8% in 2008 to 22.3% in 2013 across Runcorn and Widnes.

The Halton rate is among the lowest in Cheshire according to the data published by the Integration Hub, a research group specialised in ethnicity and demography.

The Cheshire East rate is marginally lower in 2013 with 22.2%, while the figures for Warrington and Cheshire West And Cheshire stood at 23.5% and 24.3% respectively.

In the nearby local authority areas in Merseyside, the Year 7 rate in Knowsley plummeted to 25.8% from 42.4% between 2008 and 2013.

The dissimilarity index of 25.8% means that now a quarter of the ethnic minority pupils would need to change school if the ethnic makeup of schools was to be representative of the population.

The decrease in Knowsley was the sixth biggest of any local authority in England according to the most recent data. The dissimilarity index between pupils also decreased in Liverpool from 45.9% to 36.3% and in St. Helens from 22.4% to 20.3%.

However, segregation between pupils of ethnic minority and white British background has grown elsewhere in Merseyside.

The biggest increase was in Wirral where school segregation rose from 24.1% to 26.3%.

In Sefton the segregation between pupils rose from 24.7% to 25.2%.

In England as a whole, while segregation still exists within the education system, it went down over the five-year period, as the average area saw the dissimilarity index of its schools fall from 32% to 30.1%.