Morris, Andrew Bernard (1996) School ethos and academic productivity : the Catholic effect. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

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States of America and reports previously unpublished analysis of the results of school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.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1603 Secondary Education. High schools
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Catholic high schools -- England, Academic achievement -- England
Official Date:	July 1996
Dates:	Date Event July 1996 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Institute of Education
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Halpin, David
Extent:	v, 346 leaves
Language:	eng

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