Independent Schools as vehicles of social mobility? Digging deeper into the Statistics.

Approximately 6.5% of UK school children are currently educated in independent schools. However, this general figure masks a much more complex reality. In practice, about 3% of 5-year olds and approximately 15% of school pupils over the age of 16 attend an independent school (ISC Annual Census and Annual Report 2019, p.13). 

The use of historic data 

Critics of independent education often point to the disproportionate role that former pupils play in public life: 65% of senior judges, 57% of Members of the House of Lords, 52% of diplomats and so on (Sutton Trust Elitist Britain 2019). Yet these statistics belie the fact that many schools which are today independent schools were Direct Grant schools at the time when these senior figures were at school. Direct schools such as Manchester Grammar, Bradford Grammar, Leeds Grammar, Haberdashers’ Aske’s and Latymer Upper were all significant feeders to university, Oxbridge and into the professions. 

If we genuinely want an informed (rather than ideologically partisan) debate about the place of independent schools in our society, it would be useful to know what proportion of the leading figures educated at independent schools in the Sutton Trust’s Elitist Britain survey were themselves beneficiaries of the Direct Grant scheme. These data would give an indication of the extent to which independent schools were a vehicle for social mobility in the 1960s and 1970s, and thus inform debates about future policy. 

There is little doubt that the abolition of the Direct Grant scheme in 1976 and of its successor, the Assisted Places Scheme, in 1997 had a significant impact on the independent sector’s ability to transform lives on a large scale. There is little doubt too, that above inflation fee increases over the past thirty years have limited the number who are able to afford access to independent schools.

Independent schools as vehicles of social mobility 

And yet we know that Independent schools still have the ability to be vehicles of social mobility and to transform lives. That a third of students at Oxford University who come from low-income backgrounds and qualified for free school meals went to independent schools, is testimony to this. In the words of Professor Louise Richardson, Vice Chancellor of Oxford University: 

“The reality is that independent schools are identifying these smart, poor kids. They are bringing them in, giving them scholarships and educating them, and then they apply to us, and we take them.” (‘Oxford’s admission problem is because state schools fail to push their brightest pupils’ vice chancellor suggests’  Daily Telegraph 18/07/2019) 

The question of scale 

There are many in the sector who are committed to broadening access to independent schools. There is a clear direction of travel, and we all recognise that there is a long way to go. 

According to figures from the Independent Schools Council, 176,633 students (34%) received some help with their fees. Of these 5998 students (1.1%) last year were in receipt of 100% or more bursary assistance, and a further 11,566 (2.2%) over 75% funding. Critics are wont to focus on the 1.1% statistic, but this is rather simplistic, for bursaries of this nature tend to be awarded to students of secondary schooling age, especially in the sixth form. And it is really the sixth form bursaries that matter because this where independent schools can have their greatest impact. This because the sector is, as we have seen, a more significantly player at this age group; and also because it is the key springboard that provides access to university. 

Again, we need more aggregated data to have an informed debate. We need to know what the proportion of sixth formers are on full bursaries in independent schools and, importantly, what they go on to do after school and where. 

So, for me, the debate here is not whether or not Independent schools are vehicles of social mobility, but whether or not they are so on a scale that is appropriate and acceptable within society. 

Even without access to data, and despite the valiant efforts of the pioneers like Philip Britton and Sue Hincks at Bolton School, there is little doubt that this figure currently is too low. 

A possible way forward . . . 

The annual cost of state education per student in England is £6,000 (Institute of Fiscal Studies 2019 annual report on education spending in England) and £4,900 in the sixth form. The average annual fee for an independent day school at secondary is £15,522 and £15,027 in the sixth form (ISC Census 2019 p.18). 

One possible way forward would be for all parents (below a certain family income threshold?) to choose to be able opt out of the maintained sector and move their funding to the independent school of their choice. 

Such an approach is not new. In 2010, Paul Collier, Professor of Economics and Public Policy in the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University, argued that the ban on "blended funding" that causes the "Educational Apartheid" that is the British system of schooling. (Private v state: here's how to bridge the educational divide Independent 14/01/2010) 

An educational credit or voucher system would provide greater scope for existing independent schools to open their doors wider at no additional total per capita cost to the state. In this context it is possible to conceive of a situation where independent schools offer both a much greater number of bursaries which top up to 100% of school fees; and a significant number of ‘match funded’ bursaries, making private education much more affordable to a wider population.
I believe that the time has come for society to reinstate a mechanism that broadens access to independent schools. Just as the Direct Grant system provided opportunities for all to go to top schools before 1976, so, too, a combination of a voucher and a bursary system could provide the same opportunities for social mobility from 2020.

This article was published on the PSPR Blog (13/01/2020)