Background to the Research

• Research suggests that school size may affect the examination performance in terms of subject choice, streaming and interaction between pupils and teachers.
• Religious segregation in NI has ensured a relatively higher number of small schools in NI compared with Britain. This paper sets out to explore whether school size is a factor in the career choices at 16 years of age for a sample of pupils completing their compulsory education in NI in 1993.

Research Approach

• The author analysed data from the Status O Survey (1995) regarding the post school destinations, qualifications gained at 16, individual and family background characteristics, and school attended of 342 pupils. This was supplemented by data relating to the type of school (Controlled/Voluntary) and the selection regime (secondary/grammar) and the proportion of pupils obtaining 5 or more GCSE grades A-C, all from DENI 1992/3 School Performance Indicators.
  

Main Findings

• There is a U-shaped relationship between leaving education to enter employment and school size.
• This is replicated by similar, though not statistically significant, patterns for entry to training or unemployment and staying on at school or in Further Education.
• The optimal size for secondary schools in terms of examination performance is 1200. The estimated optimum size for secondary schools in NI is around 500 pupils. NI secondary schools in NI seem to be close to their optimum size in terms of discouraging early labour market entry.
• One possible explanation for NI schools' being near their optimal size at 500 is that schools can operate successfully at a smaller scale because the selective nature of secondary education in the province brings about easier streaming of pupils.