DfES Research: Free School Meal as a Valid Proxy for Socio-Economic Status
This paper analyses whether Free
School Meal (FSM) status is a valid proxy for
socio-economic status when conducting schools
related research. The authors compare data from
the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and
Children (ALSPAC) with FSM data. Significant
differences are found between the two sets of
data, but this cannot be seen as definitive
reasoning for questioning FSM as a measure.
ALSPAC is not a nationally representative sample
and suffers from a lack of ethnic diversity.