Across Europe, education, disadvantage and place are strongly linked. In areas characterised by high levels of disadvantage, where families most vulnerable to social exclusion are concentrated, children are most likely to achieve poor educational outcomes (Palmer et al 2007). Huge resources have been directed towards breaking this pattern – from strategies promoting school effectiveness and improvement, to area-based initiatives including France’s Zones d’Education Prioritaire, and England’s Education Action Zones (Bénabou et al 2005, Hatcher and Leblond 2001). Yet despite this, the link remains strongly ingrained. Policy’s relative failure in this respect suggests that it has been based on an inadequate understanding of the nature of educational inequities (Gulson 2005, Power et al 2005). Following this, this paper argues that policies need to be informed by spatial understanding of education inequities, which focuses attention on the local structures, processes and relationships which create these. It asks: “What can be learnt from a spatial analysis of educational inequities?” The paper reports empirical data from a spatial analysis of educational inequities in an urban inner-city ward in North West England. This has a number of ramifications – conceptually, and for research and policy: 1. It starts to develop a framework for the spatial analyses of educational inequities focusing on: (1) an area’s observable features (e.g. the locations of schools, demographic characteristics, housing types) (Butler and Hamnett 2007); (2) how areas are experienced and ‘lived’ (Lefbvre 1991); and (3) how these dimensions of space interact and impact on education. 2. It identifies the need for research which can: (1) explain how local dynamics shape educational outcomes; and (2) identify the key underlying factors at work, those which can be acted upon, and by whom. 3. It suggests that policymakers can respond to such analyses by creating broad national frameworks with some scope for strategic development at local level.

Methodology A spatial analysis of educational inequities was undertaken in an urban inner-city district in North West England, (pseudonym Beech Hill). Statistically, Beech Hill experiences levels of disadvantage which are above average – nationally and for the city where it is located. A variety of research activities were undertaken. These included two focus group interviews with pupils and twenty-one semi-structured interviews with other education stakeholders ranging across parents, head teachers, school governors, local government officers, and community representatives. Interviews focused on three topics: access to education, participation in education, and outcomes from education, and asked in relation to these: what’s it like round here, is it fair, is it a problem, and what can be done about it? Data also included notes from community meetings and local policy documents. The analysis was generated by identifying themes emerging from within the data.

The spatial analysis of Beech Hill has started to reveal how concentrations of poverty, high population turn over relating to local housing policy, and patterns of immigration (relating to geo-political and economic trends) have shaped the local education system. In this complex context, national policies which encourage schools to compete for pupils have supported the spread of a standard and exclusive form of schooling. They have also reinforced and further complicated existing local processes which concentrate the most vulnerable pupils in particular schools. The analysis demonstrates that to address this situation, policy must seek to tackle these underlying dynamics – treating schools as a system, rather than targeting them in isolation and addressing only surface issues. A spatial analysis of educational inequities, as they are grounded in local communities, is therefore an essential prerequisite for developing locally meaningful policies, which can transform education systems and children's life chances.