Independent Schools, Elite Sport and University Entrance

Letter to the Daily Telegraph
Published Saturday 21st June 2014

Sir,
Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of Ofsted, argues that a disproportionate number of independent school pupils represent Britain at elite sport. So what do we do? Do we have quotas of state pupils who represent GB at the Olympics or England at Rugby? No of course we don't. We aspire to bring sport in the maintained sector up to standard of sport in independent schools.
Independent schools also provide a disproportionate number of pupils to Oxford and Cambridge and Russell Group universities, so why is Offa seeking to impose a system of quotas? Why not try to raise academic standards amongst the most able in state schools?
Both TeamGB and UKplc need the best proven talent to compete on a global stage and quotas aren't going to help - a broader talent base will.

Mark S Steed
Principal, Berkhamsted School
Berkhamsted, Herts

Independent Schools, Fair Access and Social Mobility

Education is a key vehicle of social mobility.

As one of that select band of pupils who gained an Oxbridge place whilst enjoying free school meals, few know the value of a good education better than me. At 11 I was lucky enough to win a place at King Edward's Grammar School Chelmsford, then the top state school in the country. 15 O-levels and 4 A-levels later I went up to Fitzwilliam Cambridge (but not at the same time as Vince Cable!) on a full grant. My brother was not so lucky, he went to the local sink comprehensive school, where he had his head flushed down the toilet and left school with no qualifications. We have both done well in life in own ways - he is now a successful hairdresser with his own salon - but we have had very different journeys and opportunities in life simply because of our schooling.

In the debate about fair access, it is very easy, indeed fashionable, to portray independent schools as the villains of the piece, as seen by Vince Cable's observation:

"Pupils from independent schools are 55 times more likely to go to Oxbridge than children with free school meals. That is the imbalance. We are trying to address it."

Very few can doubt that Independent Schools are very good at educating young people. These schools have an outstanding record of enabling their pupils to get good grades and giving them the best possible chance of gaining a place at a good university.

Let us be clear, pupils from most HMC and GSA schools do have advantages. They are very well taught, they have almost certainly benefited from smaller class sizes throughout their education, and levels discipline are typically at a higher level than in the Maintained sector. Furthermore they are surrounded by people with high aspirations, not to mention being helped by designated staff who take the time and trouble to help find the right university course and to give advice on UCAS personal statements. Ultimately these factors are why parents choose spend their their hard-earned cash on an independent education rather than on other things. However, what is being lost in this debate is that independent schools are not the problem here. The real problem is that large parts of the maintained sector are not able to deliver the excellence of education that we have in our Independent Schools. That is a matter of leadership, vision, resources and Government funding priorities.

Far from being the problem, I would go so far as to argue that Independent Schools are a significant part of the solution for two reasons:

First, we should not lose sight that Independent Schools play a vital role in providing well-qualified entrants to UK Universities in the SIV subjects – strategically important and vulnerable. Without Independent Schools, departments in subjects like Engineering, Natural Science and Modern Foreign Languages in many of our leading Universities would be unable to function.

Secondly, not every pupil at an Independent School comes from a privileged background. Indeed nearly all independent schools are putting significant amounts of money into bursaries to enable young people from families that could not afford the fees to attend the school. Take two examples from here at Berkhamsted.

The first was educated at Berkhamsted from the age of thirteen. He was brought up by a single parent on a low income. The school not only paid all of his fees, but also provided financial support so that he could go on school trips and sports tours. He had a stunning school career, culminating in being Head Boy and achieving A*A*A*AA at A-level, before taking up a place to read Medicine at Edinburgh. Similarly, the other joined the school in the sixth form on a full scholarship from a local comprehensive school, before going up to Oxford to read PPE. Throughout their time at school only a handful of staff were aware of the level of support that they were receiving. It is highly unlikely that either pupil would have achieved either the A-level grades or gained places at these top universities without the opportunities that Berkhamsted provided.

And Berkhamsted is by no means unique in this matter. Almost every head of a HMC or GSA school could give similar examples. Independent schools are committed to widening access and to providing opportunities for young people to get the grades to be able to progress on to a top university and "to better themselves".

The Media Debate
Ebdon confirmed as university access chief - BBC News 21/02/2012
I'll get places for the poor, says new university access watchdog - The Independent 21/02/2012
Russell Group attacks university admissions targets - The Telegraph 21/02/2012
Cable questioned over appointment of Les Ebdon as university access tsar - The Guardian 21/02/2012
Comment: Simon Carr - Ebdon won his elite place though he failed the exam - The Independent 21/02/2012
Blog: University access should be based on merit - but how do you measure it? - The Guardian 21/02/2012

The debate about fair access

The debate about fair access is raging in light of the appointment of Professor Les Ebdon to head up OFFA. Today's Sunday Telegraph article on the subject quotes from this blog and the case of a Berkhamsted School pupil:

'While the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference of private schools might publicly claim there is no evidence of across-the-board discrimination, privately, some heads feel that it may play a part in cases where well-qualified students are rejected by every university they apply for.

One such student, Prina Shah, 18, from City of London School for Girls, was turned down to study medicine last year by every university she chose despite being awarded an exemplary four A*s at A-level.

According to Mark Steed, the principal of Berkhamsted School, in Hertfordshire, discrimination does “apparently exist” against independent school pupils. “Take the case of one Berkhamsted pupil last year,” he says.

“She had a perfect academic record: 10 A*s at GCSE and was predicted A*A*A* at A-level. She was rejected by four out of five universities.

“Now I can understand how someone with such an academic record could fail to gain a place at Oxford — the Oxbridge colleges still believe in additional testing and interviews.

"However I am at a loss as to how she could fail to gain an offer to study English from Leeds University on the basis of her UCAS form alone. How many A*A*A* applicants does the English Faculty at Leeds get each year? What can justify their standard offer of AAB, if they can reject A*A*A* candidates without an interview?”'

For the full article see: 'Private schools fear 'social engineering' in university admissions' Sunday Telegraph 19/02/2012

For the original blogpost: 'Teaching our young people that discrimination is OK.' 05/04/2011

Cambridge University: A-level scores are the best indicator of future degree success

Cambridge University has defended robustly its right to admit students on the basis of merit, without regard to social or educational background. Thus far it has resisted all pressure from Government to alter its admissions procedures to be a vehicle of social mobility. [See 'University is not for promoting social justice, says Cambridge vice-chancellor' Daily Telegraph 10/09/2008] The findings of a recent study conducted by the University Admissions Research Working Party gives support to this approach and to the policy of using AS-level UMS scores as the best predictor of future degree success.

Richard Partington, the report's author commented,

"A Levels - as measured by unit scores or UMS - were overwhelmingly the best indicator available of likely future degree performance. The one exception is for entry in Mathematics, where Cambridge Assessment's STEP exam gave the best indicator of potential."

The study, The Predictive Effectiveness of Metrics in Admission to Cambridge University, analysed the those students who sat Cambridge Tripos examinations in the period 2006-2009. It also found that Cambridge students from state and independent schools are equally likely to enjoy degree success:

"School background and gender did not make a significant difference. Given the same UMS performance at admission, students from different schools and colleges were equally likely to perform well in Cambridge exams in the period 2006-2009."

The study also found that GCSE grades, the preferred measure used by Oxford University, have largely been a less effective predictor than AS UMS. Interestingly, looking to the future, the Working Group are going to analyse the effectiveness of the A* at A-level as a predictor of future Tripos success.

Long may our top universities resist all external pressures to lower their admission standards to meet a social agenda; and long may they continue to admit students on the basis of merit as demonstrated in nationally recognised examinations.

Links:
School background is not a factor in Cambridge degree success Cambridge University News Website 05/04/2011

Teaching our young people that discrimination is OK.

This week, David Willetts, the Universities' Minister, argued that it would be right for Universities to discriminate against pupils with better A-level grades from Independent schools [See "David Willetts: state school students with good A-levels should get preferential treatment" Daily Telegraph 03/04/2011].

I, more than most, have good reason to believe that education is the right vehicle for social mobility; however, I do believe that it needs to be done on the basis of merit. I do not think that the top universities should be forced into lowering their exacting standards to comply with a social engineering agenda of the Government - regardless of its colour.

According to David Willetts:

“If you get an A and two Bs at a school where the average A level grades are a C and 2 Ds, then I think that shows you're achieving something exceptional. Someone who is getting perhaps even better grades, but at a school where everyone gets good grades may not have achieved something so exceptional."

What David Willetts fails to see is that this is not a debate about contextual success, it is about excellence. The ABB pupil may be doing comparatively well in a school where CDD is the norm, but he is not doing anything exceptional by national standards.

Let me move this debate away from the shades of grey comparing ABB pupils in maintained sector schools with AAB candidates in Independent Schools, to the clear territory of discrimination that apparently exists against truly outstanding Independent School pupils.

Take for example the case of one Berkhamsted pupil last year. She had a perfect academic record: 10 A*s at GCSE and was predicted A*A*A* at A-level. She was rejected by four out of five of the universities to whom she applied for English. Now I can understand how someone with such an academic record could fail to gain a place at Oxford, for the Oxbridge Colleges still believe in additional testing and interviews; however I am at a loss as to how she could fail to gain an offer from the University of Leeds on the basis of her UCAS form alone. How many A*A*A* applicants does the English Faculty at Leeds get each year? What can justify their standard offer of AAB, if they can reject A*A*A* candidates without an interview?

A-levels [or the other equivalent school leaving qualifications, such as the IB] are the recognised national measure of the preparedness of a given pupil for university. An A-level candidate who has a AAB is clearly not as well prepared for university as a candidate who has achieved A*A*A*, regardless of social background and previous educational opportunities. If Universities are to apply other criteria to their admissions process, they need to be transparent about the criteria which they use. But sadly, they are not being so.

Let us be clear where this will lead. If institutionalised discrimination against Independent School candidates becomes the Government-sanctioned norm, there will be legal challenges by individual pupils against this policy. The basis of the challenge is likely to be along the following lines:

It is parents who choose to send their children to Independent Schools. It is not the applicant's fault that he or she had a socially advantageous background or went to an Independent School. It is wholly discriminatory for a University to discriminate against a given applicant on the basis of the socio-economic background of their parents or because of a decision about schooling their parents made a number of years earlier. So long as the university admissions criteria remain based on the candidate's academic record, the applicant who has the better grades should have the right to that place on merit, regardless of their social or educational background.

There are Human Rights issues here and I suspect that it won't be long before the Courts will be asked to rule on this one.

If Universities take up David Willetts' exhortation then we are simply teaching our young people that discrimination is acceptable in this country.