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.
| 
