Select Committee on Education and Skills Minutes of Evidence


Memorandum submitted by The Sutton Trust (SA 25)

INCREASING SOCIAL MOBILITY

  A study conducted by the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics has confirmed that social mobility in the UK has declined over the last 30 years or so. The researchers compared a cohort born in 1970 with one born in 1958 and found the economic status of the 1970 cohort to be much more closely related to that of their parents than the 1958 cohort was to their parents. They concluded that there has been a sharp fall in cross generational mobility between those who grew up in the 60s and 70s and those who grew up in the 70s and 80s.

  This fall in mobility is to a certain extent due to the fact that increased educational opportunities have disproportionately benefited children with richer parents. For instance, there has been an enormous expansion in numbers going to university but almost all of that expansion has come from the three most affluent social classes so that only one out of eight from the least affluent social class go to university compared to eight out of 10 from the most affluent social class.

  The most obvious means by which the state can increase mobility is through the education system, and the move to a comprehensive system in the 70s was supposed to do just that. It is quite clear, however, that this has not happened.

  The reason is that our comprehensive system is not comprehensive. We have a strong private sector with better resourced schools taking a disproportionately large share of teachers with the best academic qualifications. We have grammar schools which in many places have effectively become free independent schools for the middle classes. The remainder of our so-called comprehensives show a huge variation in social intake and performance.

  In theory, parents can choose schools but in practice schools choose parents. The net result is that we have a socially selective state system. We conducted an analysis of the top 200 performing state schools. Their free school meals entitlement averages 3% compared to a national average of 17%.

  In terms of social mobility, we have gone into reverse. In our most academic schools (independent, grammar, and the best comprehensives) and universities, particularly top universities, children from modest backgrounds are conspicuous by their absence.

THE STATE-PRIVATE DIVIDE

  It is an illusion that we can ignore the state/private divide-and improve the state sector to the point where no one need pay for their children to go to independent schools. For one thing a large share of teachers with the best academic qualifications are in independent schools. We funded a survey completed earlier this year by Alan Smithers' team at Liverpool University comparing the qualifications of teachers in both sectors of education.

  The survey found more than half the Oxbridge graduates in teaching are to be found in independent schools-which take 7% of pupils but have 13% of teachers. Teachers in independent schools are seven times more likely to have gone to Oxbridge and five times more likely to have gained a PhD. Crucially teachers in independent schools are also much more likely to hold a degree in the subject they are teaching particularly in shortage subjects such as maths, physics and languages. Physical education was the only exception.

  Since private schools have a legal right to exist, and since many are excellent educational institutions, the sensible answer is that the most successful should be opened up 100%, voluntarily, to all the talents.

  We have put the idea into practice, and we know it works. Last month saw the start of the fourth year of entrants to the Belvedere girls' school in Liverpool to be admitted solely on merit, not social status or the ability to pay. And not a handful of places, as in the Assisted Places Scheme, but all places. Parents are means-tested and pay according to their means. The results have exceeded our expectations.

  The school now has a vastly more diverse social mix, with more than 70% having all or part of their fees paid, plus academic standards have improved. It has the support of the local community, and of local state primary schools, from which the great majority of pupils come. Because this is a partnership between parents and sponsors, the Sutton Trust and the Girls' Day School Trust, with the sponsors paying 55-60% of the annual fees, all this has been achieved at a cost to us of £3,400 per student, slightly less than the average cost of a state school place.

  The private/public divide is what distinguishes the British system from other countries. This divide warps the whole system, including university entrance. It follows that the removal of privilege that would result from opening up independent day schools would benefit the whole system too. For one thing, affluent parents would find it far harder to opt out of the state system and would thus have a vested interest in engaging in the state sector, while the best qualified teachers would be available not just to well off students.

TOP-PERFORMING STATE SCHOOLS

  The key to the success of the Belvedere scheme has been successful outreach and the school employs an outreach officer and runs masterclasses for children from local primaries. Based on this experience we have employed the same approach to opening up a top state school, Pate's School in Cheltenham. This grammar school is situated in the heart of an area of deprivation, and over the years ever fewer children from the dozen local primary schools have gained places.

  The Sutton Trust project aims to open the school up to its local constituency, and at the same time provide much needed enrichment for local able children. Each year 130 children take part and students come in to a dedicated classroom at Pate's in small groups for one afternoon a week throughout the year. The effect has been remarkable: this year 20 out of 130 places were gained entirely on merit from project schools, compared to an average of seven over the previous five years. Also the children involved have had their self-esteem and self-confidence boosted and have a more focused approach to their school work, which rubs off on the rest of the class.

  It shows the talent is there if you can reach it. We are not advocating a return of grammar schools, simply facing the facts as they are. And there are lessons here for the whole system. The issues faced by Pate's and other grammar schools are shared by many of our leading comprehensives, and this scheme could make an enormous difference to those schools.

OUR RESEARCH

  In 2001, the Sutton Trust conducted a large-scale study of secondary school admissions procedures. The research analysed DfES reports and data, supplemented by a study of schools' and LEAs' admissions booklets and a survey of 56 LEA's. Whilst the results are now slightly out of date, we nevertheless feel they provide useful background information. This is presented as an appendix.



 
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