Independent school (UK)
Encyclopedia
An independent school is a school that is not financed through the taxation system by local or national government and is instead funded by private sources, predominantly in the form of tuition charges, gifts and long-term charitable endowments, and so is not subject to the conditions imposed by accepting state financing.
countries, the term public school is commonly used in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to refer to a school which is privately owned and run and does not rely on funding from state sources. Such schools were originally termed "public" in the sense that they were open to anyone who could pass entrance examinations and afford the fees, without religious or other restrictions. Up until the late medieval period, the majority of schools were controlled by the church and had specific entrance criteria; others were restricted to the sons of members of guilds, trades or livery companies, for example the Merchant Taylors' School
.
The need for professional trades in an increasingly secularised society, particularly from advancements in philosophy, medicine and law, required schools for the sons of the gentry which were independent from ecclesiastical authority and open to all. From the 16th century onward, boys' boarding schools were founded or endowed for public use—schools which were subsequently reformed by the Public Schools Acts.
The term public school is now commonly used to describe private schools in general, particularly those that are members of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference
. Amongst the most famous public schools in England are the 'Clarendon Schools' which were the subject of the Public Schools Act 1868
: Charterhouse School
, Eton College
, Harrow School
, Merchant Taylors' School
, Rugby School
, Shrewsbury School
, St Paul's School, Westminster School
and Winchester College
.
There are now more than 2,500 independent schools in the UK educating some 615,000 children, over 7% of children (rising to more than 18% of 16+ pupils) throughout the country.
Most of the larger independent schools are either full or partial boarding school
s, although many are now predominantly day schools; by contrast there are only a few dozen state boarding schools. Boarding-school traditions give a distinctive character to British independent education, even in the case of day-pupils.
Most independent schools, particularly the larger and older institutions, have charitable
status. It is claimed by the Independent Schools Council that UK independent schools receive approximately £100m tax relief due to charitable status whilst returning £300m of fee assistance in public benefit and relieving the maintained sector (state schools) of £2bn of costs. The Charity Commission is currently formulating tests of public benefit for charitable schools as required by the Charities Act 2006
.
(founded 597), St Peter's School, York
(founded c.627), Sherborne School
(founded c.710, refounded 1550 by Edward VI), Warwick School
(c.914), The King's School, Ely
(c.970) and St Albans School
(948). These were often established for male scholars from poor or disadvantaged backgrounds; however, English law has always regarded education as a charitable end in itself, irrespective of poverty. For instance, the Queen's Scholarships founded at Westminster
in 1560, are for "the sons of decay'd gentlemen".
The transformation of free charitable foundations into institutions which sometimes charge fees came about readily: the foundation would only afford minimal facilities, so that further fees might be charged to lodge, clothe and otherwise maintain the scholars, to the private profit of the trustees or headmaster. Also, facilities already provided by the charitable foundation for a few scholars could profitably be extended to further paying pupils. (Some schools still keep their foundation scholars in a separate house from other pupils.) After a time, such fees would eclipse the original charitable income, and the original endowment
would naturally become a minor part of the capital benefactions enjoyed by the school. In 2009, senior boarding schools were charging fees of between £16,000 and nearly £30,000 per annum.
The educational reforms of the 19th century were particularly important under first Thomas Arnold
at Rugby
, and then Butler and later Kennedy at Shrewsbury
, the former emphasising team spirit and muscular Christianity
and the latter the importance of scholarship and competitive examinations. Edward Thring
of Uppingham School
introduced major reforms, focusing on the importance of the individual and competition, as well as the need for a 'total curriculum' with academia, music, sport and drama being central to education. Most public schools developed significantly during the 18th and 19th centuries, and came to play an important role in the development of the Victorian
social elite. Under a number of forward-looking headmasters leading public schools created a curriculum based heavily on classics and physical activity for boys and young men of the upper and upper middle classes.
They were schools for the gentleman
ly elite of Victorian politics, armed forces and colonial government. Often successful businessmen would send their sons to a public school as a mark of participation in the elite. Much of the discipline was in the hands of senior pupils (usually known as prefect
s), which was not just a means to reduce staffing costs, but was also seen as vital preparation for those pupils' later roles in public or military service. More recently heads of public schools have been emphasising that senior pupils now play a much reduced role in disciplining.
To an extent, the public school system influenced the school systems of the British Empire
, and recognisably "public" schools can be found in many Commonwealth
countries.
(ISC), through seven affiliated organisations, represents 1,289 schools that together educate over 80 per cent of the pupils in the UK independent sector. Those schools in England which are members of the affiliated organisations of the ISC are inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate under a framework agreed between ISC, the Government's Department for Education (DfE) and the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted). Independent Schools not affiliated to the ISC in England may be inspected by either School Inspection Service or Bridge Schools' Trust. Independent schools accredited to the ISC in Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland or others in England out with the inspectorial bodies listed above are inspected through the national inspectorates in each country.
educate about 31,000 children and are called Private Schools. Although many of the Scottish independent schools are members of the ISC they are also represented by the Scottish Council of Independent Schools, recognised by the Scottish Parliament
as the body representing private schools in Scotland. Unlike England, all Scottish independent schools are subject to the same regime of inspections by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education
as local authority schools and they have to register with the Education and Lifelong Learning Directorate. The large private schools in Scotland include the High School of Glasgow
, The Glasgow Academy
, Kelvinside Academy
, St. Aloysius' College
, Hutchesons' Grammar School
, George Heriot's School
, Stewart's Melville College
, Dollar Academy
, Strathallan School
, Glenalmond College
, Merchiston Castle School
, Edinburgh Academy
, Robert Gordon's College
, George Watson's College
, Loretto School
, Gordonstoun
, St Leonards
, and Fettes College
.
Historically, in Scotland, it was common for children destined for private schools (usually sons of the upper classes) to receive their primary education at a local school. This arose because of Scotland's long tradition of public education, which was spearheaded by the Church of Scotland
from the seventeenth century, long before such education was common in England. Independent prep schools only became more widespread in Scotland from the late 19th century (usually attached to an existing secondary private school, though exceptions such as Craigclowan Preparatory School and Cargilfield Preparatory School
do exist), though they are still much less prevalent than in England. They are, however, currently gaining in numbers.
. The principal forms of selection are financial, in that the pupil's family must be able to pay the school fees, and academic, with many administering their own entrance exams - some also require that the prospective student undergo an interview, and credit may also be given for musical, sporting or other talent. Some schools are more or less formally confined to a particular religion, or may require all pupils to attend services regardless of their personal religion. Nowadays most schools pay little regard to family connections, apart from siblings currently at the school.
Only a small minority of parents can afford school fees averaging over £
23,000 per annum for boarding pupils and £11,000 for day pupils, with unpredictable extra costs for uniform, equipment and extra-curricular facilities. Scholarships and means-tested
bursaries to assist the education of the less well-off are usually awarded by a process which combines academic and other criteria.
Independent schools are generally academically selective, using the competitive Common Entrance Examination at ages 11–13. Schools often offer scholarships to attract abler pupils, so as to improve their average results; the standard sometimes approaches the General Certificate of Secondary Education
(GCSE) intended for age 16. Poorly performing pupils may be required to leave, and following GCSE results can be replaced in the sixth form
by a new infusion of high-performing pupils, which may distort apparent results.
Independent schools, as compared with maintained schools, are generally characterised by more individual teaching; much better pupil-teacher ratios at around 9:1; longer teaching hours (sometimes including Saturday morning teaching) and homework, though shorter terms; more time for organised sports and extra-curricular activities; more emphasis on traditional academic subjects such as maths, classics
and modern languages; and a broader education than that prescribed by the national curriculum, to which state school education is in practice limited.
As boarding schools are fully responsible for their pupils throughout term-time, pastoral care is an essential part of independent education, and many independent schools teach their own distinctive ethos, including social aspirations, manners and accents, associated with their own school traditions. Many pupils aspire to send their own children to their old schools in their historical buildings, over successive generations. Most offer sporting, musical, dramatic and art facilities, sometimes at extra charges, although often with the benefit of generations of past investment.
Educational achievement is generally very good. Independent school pupils are four times more likely to attain an A* at GCSE than their non-selective state sector counterparts and twice as likely to attain an A grade at A level. A much higher proportion go to university. Some schools specialise in particular strengths, whether academic, vocational or artistic, although this is not as common as it is in the State sector
.
Independent schools are able to set their own discipline regime, with much greater freedom to exclude children, primarily exercised in the wider interests of the school: the most usual causes being drug-taking, whether at school or away, or an open rejection of the school's values, such as dishonesty or violence.
In England and Wales there are no requirements for teaching staff to have Qualified Teacher Status
or to be registered with the General Teaching Council. In Scotland a teaching qualification and registration with the General Teaching Council for Scotland
(GTCS) is mandatory for all teaching positions.
independent school. The age range is normally seven to eleven or thirteen, although it may include younger pupils as well. An independent school which only caters for under sevens is a "pre-prep" and the junior departments of prep schools which cover the first years of schooling are also called "pre-preps".
The Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS) is the prep schools heads association serving the top 500+ independent prep schools in the UK and Worldwide. IAPS is one of seven affiliated associations of the Independent Schools Council
.
There are 130,000 pupils in over 500 schools of all types and sizes. Prep schools may be for boys or girls only, or may be co-educational; for instance, one of the leading prep schools, Clept Esten in wales is a small school open for girls only. They may be day schools, boarding schools, weekly boarding, flexi-boarding, or a combination. They fall into the following general categories:
The 19th century public school ethos promoted ideas of service to Crown and Empire, understood by the broader public in familiar sentiments such as "it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game" and "the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton". Ex-pupils often had a nostalgic affection for their old schools and a public school tie could be useful in a career, so an "old boy network" of former pupils became important.
The English public school model influenced the nineteenth century development of Scottish private schools, but a tradition of the gentry sharing primary education with their tenants kept Scotland comparatively egalitarian.
Acceptance of social elitism was set back by the two World Wars, but despite portrayals of the products of public schools as "silly asses" and "toff
s" the old "system" at its most pervasive continued well into the 1960s, reflected in contemporary popular fiction such as Len Deighton
's The IPCRESS File
, with its sub-text of supposed tension between the grammar school
educated protagonist and the public school background of his superior but inept colleague. Postwar social change
has however gradually been reflected across Britain's educational system, while at the same time fears of problems with state education have pushed some parents who can afford the fees or qualify for bursaries towards public schools, which are now often referred to as independent schools.
Labour Party
leaders Clement Attlee
, Hugh Gaitskell
, Michael Foot
and Tony Blair
were educated at independent schools, but the former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown
and current Labour party leader Ed Miliband
, attended a state school.
Whilst the current Conservative
leader and Prime Minister, David Cameron
was educated at Eton (and the Conservatives' Chancellor
George Osborne
attended St Paul's School), all Conservative leaders from 1965 to 2005 were educated at selective state grammar school
s, including former prime ministers Ted Heath, Margaret Thatcher
, and John Major
.
With the exception of Charles Kennedy
, all other past leaders of the Liberal Democrat party, including David Steel
, Paddy Ashdown
, and Menzies Campbell
, were educated at fee-paying schools. Without precedent, both main candidates in the 2007 election for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats
– Nick Clegg
and Chris Huhne
– were educated at the same independent school, Westminster School
.
In 2003, 84% of senior Judges in England and Wales were educated at independent schools, as surveyed in 2003 by law firm SJ Berwin
.
This is especially significant considering that just 18% of British sixth form
ers study for their 'A' levels at independent schools.
Nevertheless, many of the best-known public schools are extremely expensive, and many have entry criteria geared towards those who have been at private 'feeder' preparatory-schools or privately tutored. Going some way to countering the charge of exclusivity, a large number (c. one third) of independent school pupils provide assistance with fees. The Thatcher government introduced the Assisted Places Scheme
in England and Wales in 1980, whereby the state paid the school fees for those pupils capable of gaining a place but unable to afford the fees. This was essentially a response to the decision of the previous Labour government in the mid-1970s to remove government funding of direct grant grammar school
s, most of which then became private schools; some Assisted Places pupils went to the former direct-grant schools such as Manchester Grammar School
. The scheme was terminated by the Labour government in 1997, and since then the private sector has moved to increase its own means-tested bursaries.
The former classics-based curriculum was also criticised for not providing skills in sciences or engineering, but was perhaps in response to the requirement of classics for entry to Oxbridge
up until the early 1960s, as well as a hangover from the pre-20th century period when only Latin and Greek were taught at many public schools. It was Martin Wiener
's opposition to this tendency which inspired his 1981 book English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit: 1850-1980. It became a huge influence on the Thatcher
government's opposition to old-school gentlemanly Tory
ism. Nowadays, independent school pupils have "the highest rates of achieving grades A or B in A level maths and sciences" compared to grammar, specialist and mainstream state schools, and pupils at independent schools account for a disproportionate number of the total number of A levels in maths and sciences.
Some parents complain that their rights and their children’s are compromised by vague and one-sided contracts which allow Heads to use discretionary powers unfairly, such as in expulsion
on non-disciplinary matters. They believe independent schools have not embraced the principles of natural justice
as adopted by the state sector, and private law
as applied to Higher Education.
Generally political attacks on private schools have been opposed by concern that there should be no totalitarian state control of education.
In 2006, pupils at fee-paying schools made up 43% of those selected for places at Oxford University and 38% of those granted places at Cambridge University (although such pupils represent only 18% of the 16 years old plus school population).
However, the progression of pupils to Russell Group universities, including Oxbridge, is complex. For example, many independent schools (and most of the prestigious schools) take pupils at thirteen, so they would be expected to attract the strongest applicants from many feeder schools. In effect the system 'distills talent' so that a higher probability of progression to the most selective universities would be expected: as noted above, the increased probability of Oxbridge entrance is roughly (43 to 38)/18 or about two to one.
A major area of debate in recent years has centred around the continuing charitable status of independent schools, which allows them not to charge VAT on school fees. Following the enactment of the Charities Bill, which was passed by the House of Lords
in November 2006, charitable status is based on an organisation providing a "public benefit" as judged by the Charity Commission. Pending the Charity Commission publishing its definitive guidance on "public benefit" at the end of 2008, there remains an incentive for independent schools to share their sporting, musical and other facilities with the public or local state schools, and supplement their charitable endowments with an increased number of subsidised scholarships and bursaries.
conducted a study into the determinants of degree performance at UK universities. Their study confirmed that the internationally recognized phenomenon whereby “children from more advantaged class backgrounds have higher levels of educational attainment than children from less-advantaged class backgrounds" persists at university level in the United Kingdom
.
The authors noted “a very well-determined and monotonically positive effect defined over Social Classes I to V” whereby, for both men and women, “ceteris paribus, academic performance at university is better the more advantaged is the student's home background.” but they also observed that a student educated at an independent school was on average 6% less likely to receive a first or an upper second class degree than a student from the same social class background, of the same gender, who had achieved the same A-level score at a state school . The averaged effect was described as very variable across the social class and A-level attainment of the candidates; it was "small and not strongly significant for students with high A-level scores" (i.e. for students at the more selective universities) and “statistically significant mostly for students from lower occupationally-ranked social-class backgrounds”. Additionally, the study could not take into account the effect of a slightly different and more traditional subject mix studied by independent students at university on university achievement. Despite these caveats, the paper attracted much press attention. The same study found wide variations between independent school, suggesting that students from a few of them were in fact significantly more likely to obtain the better degrees than state students of the same gender and class background having the same A-level score.
A subsequent study led by Richard Partington at Cambridge University showed that A-level performance is "overwhelmingly" the best guide to what class of degree an undergraduate was likely to achieve at Cambridge. Partington's summary specified that "questions of school background and gender" ... "make only a marginal difference and the pattern – particularly in relation to school background – is in any case inconsistent."
A study commissioned by the Sutton Trust
and published in 2010 focussed mainly on the possible use of US-style SAT tests as a way of detetecting candidate's academic potential. Its findings confirmed those of the Smith & Naylor study in that it found that privately educated pupils who, despite their educational advantages, have only secured a poor A level score , and who therefore attend less selective universities, do less well than state educated degree candidates with the same low A-level attainment. A countervailing finding of the same study was that for students of a given level of A-level attainment it is almost twice as difficult to get a First at the most selective universities than at those on the other end of the scale. In addition, and as discussed in the 2010 Buckingham report 'HMC Schools: a quantitative analysis', because students from state schools tended to be admitted on lower A-level entry grades, relative to entry grades it could be claimed that these students had improved more . It is also worth noting that given that independent sector schools regularly dominate the top of the A level league tables, and that their students are more likely to apply to the most selective universities, especially the ones requiring 3 A or A* grades at A level, independent sector students are particularly well represented at these institutions, where they are disproportionately competing with each other and where only the very ablest of them are likely to secure the best degrees.
Usage
In contrast to the usage in the United States and other non-CommonwealthCommonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
countries, the term public school is commonly used in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to refer to a school which is privately owned and run and does not rely on funding from state sources. Such schools were originally termed "public" in the sense that they were open to anyone who could pass entrance examinations and afford the fees, without religious or other restrictions. Up until the late medieval period, the majority of schools were controlled by the church and had specific entrance criteria; others were restricted to the sons of members of guilds, trades or livery companies, for example the Merchant Taylors' School
Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood
Merchant Taylors' School is a British independent day school for boys, originally located in the City of London. Since 1933 it has been located at Sandy Lodge in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire ....
.
The need for professional trades in an increasingly secularised society, particularly from advancements in philosophy, medicine and law, required schools for the sons of the gentry which were independent from ecclesiastical authority and open to all. From the 16th century onward, boys' boarding schools were founded or endowed for public use—schools which were subsequently reformed by the Public Schools Acts.
The term public school is now commonly used to describe private schools in general, particularly those that are members of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference
Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference
The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference is an association of the headmasters or headmistressess of 243 leading day and boarding independent schools in the United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies and the Republic of Ireland...
. Amongst the most famous public schools in England are the 'Clarendon Schools' which were the subject of the Public Schools Act 1868
Public Schools Act 1868
The Public Schools Act 1868 was enacted by the British Parliament to reform and regulate nine of the leading English boys' schools. They were described as "public schools" as admission was open to boys from anywhere and was not limited to those living in a particular locality...
: Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...
, Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, Harrow School
Harrow School
Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...
, Merchant Taylors' School
Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood
Merchant Taylors' School is a British independent day school for boys, originally located in the City of London. Since 1933 it has been located at Sandy Lodge in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire ....
, Rugby School
Rugby School
Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain.-History:...
, Shrewsbury School
Shrewsbury School
Shrewsbury School is a co-educational independent school for pupils aged 13 to 18, founded by Royal Charter in 1552. The present campus to which the school moved in 1882 is located on the banks of the River Severn in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England...
, St Paul's School, Westminster School
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
and Winchester College
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
.
There are now more than 2,500 independent schools in the UK educating some 615,000 children, over 7% of children (rising to more than 18% of 16+ pupils) throughout the country.
Most of the larger independent schools are either full or partial boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
s, although many are now predominantly day schools; by contrast there are only a few dozen state boarding schools. Boarding-school traditions give a distinctive character to British independent education, even in the case of day-pupils.
Most independent schools, particularly the larger and older institutions, have charitable
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
status. It is claimed by the Independent Schools Council that UK independent schools receive approximately £100m tax relief due to charitable status whilst returning £300m of fee assistance in public benefit and relieving the maintained sector (state schools) of £2bn of costs. The Charity Commission is currently formulating tests of public benefit for charitable schools as required by the Charities Act 2006
Charities Act 2006
The Charities Act 2006 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to alter the regulatory framework in which charities operate, partly by amending the Charities Act 1993.-Provisions:...
.
Origins
Some independent schools are particularly old, such as The King's School, CanterburyThe King's School, Canterbury
The King's School is a British co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils in the historic English cathedral city of Canterbury in Kent. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and the Eton Group....
(founded 597), St Peter's School, York
St Peter's School, York
St Peter's School is a co-educational independent boarding and day school located in the English City of York, with extensive grounds on the banks of the River Ouse...
(founded c.627), Sherborne School
Sherborne School
Sherborne School is a British independent school for boys, located in the town of Sherborne in north-west Dorset, England. It is one of the original member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference....
(founded c.710, refounded 1550 by Edward VI), Warwick School
Warwick School
Warwick School is an independent school with boarding facilities for boys in Warwick, England, and is reputed to be the third-oldest surviving school in the country after King's School, Canterbury and St Peter's School, York; and the oldest boy's school in England...
(c.914), The King's School, Ely
The King's School, Ely
The King's School, Ely, is a coeducational independent day and boarding school in the cathedral city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. It was founded in 970 A.D., making it one of the oldest schools in the world, though it was given its Royal Charter by King Henry VIII in 1541...
(c.970) and St Albans School
St Albans School (Hertfordshire)
St Albans School is an independent school in the city of St Albans in Hertfordshire, in the East of England. Entry before Sixth Form is for boys only, and co-educational thereafter. Founded in 948 by Wulsin , St Albans School is not only the oldest school in Hertfordshire but also one of the oldest...
(948). These were often established for male scholars from poor or disadvantaged backgrounds; however, English law has always regarded education as a charitable end in itself, irrespective of poverty. For instance, the Queen's Scholarships founded at Westminster
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
in 1560, are for "the sons of decay'd gentlemen".
The transformation of free charitable foundations into institutions which sometimes charge fees came about readily: the foundation would only afford minimal facilities, so that further fees might be charged to lodge, clothe and otherwise maintain the scholars, to the private profit of the trustees or headmaster. Also, facilities already provided by the charitable foundation for a few scholars could profitably be extended to further paying pupils. (Some schools still keep their foundation scholars in a separate house from other pupils.) After a time, such fees would eclipse the original charitable income, and the original endowment
Financial endowment
A financial endowment is a transfer of money or property donated to an institution. The total value of an institution's investments is often referred to as the institution's endowment and is typically organized as a public charity, private foundation, or trust....
would naturally become a minor part of the capital benefactions enjoyed by the school. In 2009, senior boarding schools were charging fees of between £16,000 and nearly £30,000 per annum.
The educational reforms of the 19th century were particularly important under first Thomas Arnold
Thomas Arnold
Dr Thomas Arnold was a British educator and historian. Arnold was an early supporter of the Broad Church Anglican movement...
at Rugby
Rugby School
Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain.-History:...
, and then Butler and later Kennedy at Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury School
Shrewsbury School is a co-educational independent school for pupils aged 13 to 18, founded by Royal Charter in 1552. The present campus to which the school moved in 1882 is located on the banks of the River Severn in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England...
, the former emphasising team spirit and muscular Christianity
Muscular Christianity
Muscular Christianity is a term for a movement originating during the Victorian era which stressed the need for energetic Christian activism in combination with an ideal of vigorous masculinity...
and the latter the importance of scholarship and competitive examinations. Edward Thring
Edward Thring
Edward Thring was a celebrated British educator. He was headmaster of Uppingham School and founder of the Headmasters' Conference in 1869.-Life:...
of Uppingham School
Uppingham School
Uppingham School is a co-educational independent school of the English public school tradition, situated in the small town of Uppingham in Rutland, England...
introduced major reforms, focusing on the importance of the individual and competition, as well as the need for a 'total curriculum' with academia, music, sport and drama being central to education. Most public schools developed significantly during the 18th and 19th centuries, and came to play an important role in the development of the Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
social elite. Under a number of forward-looking headmasters leading public schools created a curriculum based heavily on classics and physical activity for boys and young men of the upper and upper middle classes.
They were schools for the gentleman
Gentleman
The term gentleman , in its original and strict signification, denoted a well-educated man of good family and distinction, analogous to the Latin generosus...
ly elite of Victorian politics, armed forces and colonial government. Often successful businessmen would send their sons to a public school as a mark of participation in the elite. Much of the discipline was in the hands of senior pupils (usually known as prefect
Prefect
Prefect is a magisterial title of varying definition....
s), which was not just a means to reduce staffing costs, but was also seen as vital preparation for those pupils' later roles in public or military service. More recently heads of public schools have been emphasising that senior pupils now play a much reduced role in disciplining.
To an extent, the public school system influenced the school systems of the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
, and recognisably "public" schools can be found in many Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
countries.
Inspections in England
The Independent Schools CouncilIndependent Schools Council
The Independent Schools Council is a non-profit organisation that represents 1,234 schools in the United Kingdom's independent education sector...
(ISC), through seven affiliated organisations, represents 1,289 schools that together educate over 80 per cent of the pupils in the UK independent sector. Those schools in England which are members of the affiliated organisations of the ISC are inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate under a framework agreed between ISC, the Government's Department for Education (DfE) and the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted). Independent Schools not affiliated to the ISC in England may be inspected by either School Inspection Service or Bridge Schools' Trust. Independent schools accredited to the ISC in Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland or others in England out with the inspectorial bodies listed above are inspected through the national inspectorates in each country.
Scotland
Independent schools in ScotlandScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
educate about 31,000 children and are called Private Schools. Although many of the Scottish independent schools are members of the ISC they are also represented by the Scottish Council of Independent Schools, recognised by the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
as the body representing private schools in Scotland. Unlike England, all Scottish independent schools are subject to the same regime of inspections by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education
Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education is an executive agency of the Scottish Government, responsible for the inspection of public and independent, primary and secondary schools, as well as further education colleges, community learning, Local Authority Education Departments and teacher...
as local authority schools and they have to register with the Education and Lifelong Learning Directorate. The large private schools in Scotland include the High School of Glasgow
High School of Glasgow
The High School of Glasgow is an independent, co-educational day school in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded as the Choir School of Glasgow Cathedral in around 1124, it is the oldest school in Scotland, and the twelfth oldest in the United Kingdom. It remained part of the Church as the city's grammar...
, The Glasgow Academy
The Glasgow Academy
Founded in 1845, the Glasgow Academy is the oldest fully independent school in Glasgow, Scotland. It is located in the Kelvinbridge area and has approximately 1300 pupils, split between three preparatory school sites and a senior school....
, Kelvinside Academy
Kelvinside Academy
Kelvinside Academy is a private school in the City of Glasgow, Scotland, founded in 1878. It has a capacity of 640 pupils and spans two years of Junior Start , six years of Junior School , and seven years of Senior School , comprising fifteen years in all...
, St. Aloysius' College
St. Aloysius' College, Glasgow
St. Aloysius' College is a selective fee-paying independent Jesuit school in Glasgow, Scotland. It was founded in 1859, and named after the famous Jesuit, Aloysius Gonzaga. Its strong Jesuit ethos emphasises practice of the Roman Catholic faith both in the church and in the community, with many...
, Hutchesons' Grammar School
Hutchesons' Grammar School
Hutchesons' Grammar School is a co-educational independent school in the southside of Glasgow, Scotland. It was founded by the brothers George Hutcheson and Thomas Hutcheson in 1641 and was opened originally to teach orphans, starting with "twelve male children, indigent orphans".In 1876 a girls'...
, George Heriot's School
George Heriot's School
George Heriot's School is an independent primary and secondary school on Lauriston Place in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland, with around 1600 pupils, 155 teaching staff and 80 non-teaching staff. It was established in 1628 as George Heriot's Hospital, by bequest of the royal goldsmith George...
, Stewart's Melville College
Stewart's Melville College
Stewart's Melville College is an all boys boarding and day private school situated in the heart of Edinburgh, Scotland...
, Dollar Academy
Dollar Academy
Dollar Academy was founded in 1818, which makes it the oldest co-educational day and boarding school in the world. The open campus occupies a site in the centre of the thriving town of Dollar in Central Scotland, less than 40 minutes drive from the two main Scottish cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh...
, Strathallan School
Strathallan School
Strathallan School is an independent boarding and day school in Scotland for boys and girls aged 9–18. The school has a campus at Forgandenny, a few miles south of Perth. It typically takes 50 minutes to travel to the school from Edinburgh and 1:15 hours from Glasgow.The school has 99 full time...
, Glenalmond College
Glenalmond College
Glenalmond College is a co-educational independent boarding school in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, for children aged between 12 and 18 years. It is situated on the River Almond near the village of Methven, about west of the city of Perth. The school's motto is Floreat Glenalmond...
, Merchiston Castle School
Merchiston Castle School
Merchiston Castle School is an independent school for boys in the village of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has about 480 pupils and is open to boys between the ages of 8 and 18 as either boarders or day pupils; day pupils make up 35% of the school....
, Edinburgh Academy
Edinburgh Academy
The Edinburgh Academy is an independent school which was opened in 1824. The original building, in Henderson Row on the northern fringe of the New Town of Edinburgh, Scotland, is now part of the Senior School...
, Robert Gordon's College
Robert Gordon's College
Robert Gordon's College is a private co-educational day school in Aberdeen, Scotland. The school caters for pupils from Nursery-S6.-History:...
, George Watson's College
George Watson's College
George Watson's College, known informally as Watson's, is a co-educational independent day school in Scotland, situated on Colinton Road, in the Merchiston area of Edinburgh. It was first established as a hospital school in 1741, became a day school in 1871 and was merged with its sister school...
, Loretto School
Loretto School
Loretto School is an independent school in Scotland, founded in 1827. The campus occupies in Musselburgh, near Edinburgh.-History:Loretto was founded by the Reverend Thomas Langhorne in 1827. Langhorne came from Crosby Ravensworth, near Kirkby Stephen. The school was later taken over by his son,...
, Gordonstoun
Gordonstoun
Gordonstoun School is a co-educational independent school for boarding and day pupils in Moray in North East Scotland. Named after the estate originally owned by Sir Robert Gordon in the 1600s, the school now uses this estate as its campus...
, St Leonards
St Leonards
- Places :in the United Kingdom:*St Leonards, Buckinghamshire*St Leonards, Dorset*St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex*St Leonards, East Kilbride*St Leonards, Edinburgh*St Leonards railway station*St Leonard's , Lambeth, London...
, and Fettes College
Fettes College
Fettes College is an independent school for boarding and day pupils in Edinburgh, Scotland with over two thirds of its pupils in residence on campus...
.
Historically, in Scotland, it was common for children destined for private schools (usually sons of the upper classes) to receive their primary education at a local school. This arose because of Scotland's long tradition of public education, which was spearheaded by the Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
from the seventeenth century, long before such education was common in England. Independent prep schools only became more widespread in Scotland from the late 19th century (usually attached to an existing secondary private school, though exceptions such as Craigclowan Preparatory School and Cargilfield Preparatory School
Cargilfield Preparatory School
Cargilfield Preparatory School is a private co-educational prep school in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1873.-Headteacher:The Headmaster is John Elder, whose most reported act so far has been to abolish homework.-Description:...
do exist), though they are still much less prevalent than in England. They are, however, currently gaining in numbers.
Selection and conditions
Independent schools, like state grammar schools, are free to select their pupils, subject only to the general legislation against discriminationDiscrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
. The principal forms of selection are financial, in that the pupil's family must be able to pay the school fees, and academic, with many administering their own entrance exams - some also require that the prospective student undergo an interview, and credit may also be given for musical, sporting or other talent. Some schools are more or less formally confined to a particular religion, or may require all pupils to attend services regardless of their personal religion. Nowadays most schools pay little regard to family connections, apart from siblings currently at the school.
Only a small minority of parents can afford school fees averaging over £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
23,000 per annum for boarding pupils and £11,000 for day pupils, with unpredictable extra costs for uniform, equipment and extra-curricular facilities. Scholarships and means-tested
Means test
A means test is a determination of whether an individual or family is eligible for help from the government.- Canada :In Canada means tests are used for student finance , and "welfare" . They are not generally used for primary education and secondary education which are tax-funded...
bursaries to assist the education of the less well-off are usually awarded by a process which combines academic and other criteria.
Independent schools are generally academically selective, using the competitive Common Entrance Examination at ages 11–13. Schools often offer scholarships to attract abler pupils, so as to improve their average results; the standard sometimes approaches the General Certificate of Secondary Education
General Certificate of Secondary Education
The General Certificate of Secondary Education is an academic qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in a number of subjects by students aged 14–16 in secondary education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is equivalent to a Level 2 and Level 1 in Key Skills...
(GCSE) intended for age 16. Poorly performing pupils may be required to leave, and following GCSE results can be replaced in the sixth form
Sixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
by a new infusion of high-performing pupils, which may distort apparent results.
Independent schools, as compared with maintained schools, are generally characterised by more individual teaching; much better pupil-teacher ratios at around 9:1; longer teaching hours (sometimes including Saturday morning teaching) and homework, though shorter terms; more time for organised sports and extra-curricular activities; more emphasis on traditional academic subjects such as maths, classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
and modern languages; and a broader education than that prescribed by the national curriculum, to which state school education is in practice limited.
As boarding schools are fully responsible for their pupils throughout term-time, pastoral care is an essential part of independent education, and many independent schools teach their own distinctive ethos, including social aspirations, manners and accents, associated with their own school traditions. Many pupils aspire to send their own children to their old schools in their historical buildings, over successive generations. Most offer sporting, musical, dramatic and art facilities, sometimes at extra charges, although often with the benefit of generations of past investment.
Educational achievement is generally very good. Independent school pupils are four times more likely to attain an A* at GCSE than their non-selective state sector counterparts and twice as likely to attain an A grade at A level. A much higher proportion go to university. Some schools specialise in particular strengths, whether academic, vocational or artistic, although this is not as common as it is in the State sector
Specialist school
The specialist schools programme was a UK government initiative which encouraged secondary schools in England to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum to boost achievement. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust was responsible for the delivery of the programme...
.
Independent schools are able to set their own discipline regime, with much greater freedom to exclude children, primarily exercised in the wider interests of the school: the most usual causes being drug-taking, whether at school or away, or an open rejection of the school's values, such as dishonesty or violence.
In England and Wales there are no requirements for teaching staff to have Qualified Teacher Status
Qualified Teacher Status
Qualified Teacher Status is required in England and Wales to become, and continue being, a teacher of children in the state and special education sectors...
or to be registered with the General Teaching Council. In Scotland a teaching qualification and registration with the General Teaching Council for Scotland
General Teaching Council for Scotland
The General Teaching Council for Scotland is a Scottish public body. It is the professional regulatory body for teachers in Scotland....
(GTCS) is mandatory for all teaching positions.
Preparatory schools
In England and Wales a preparatory school, or prep school in current usage, is an independent school designed to prepare a pupil for fee-paying, secondarySecondary education
Secondary education is the stage of education following primary education. Secondary education includes the final stage of compulsory education and in many countries it is entirely compulsory. The next stage of education is usually college or university...
independent school. The age range is normally seven to eleven or thirteen, although it may include younger pupils as well. An independent school which only caters for under sevens is a "pre-prep" and the junior departments of prep schools which cover the first years of schooling are also called "pre-preps".
The Incorporated Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS) is the prep schools heads association serving the top 500+ independent prep schools in the UK and Worldwide. IAPS is one of seven affiliated associations of the Independent Schools Council
Independent Schools Council
The Independent Schools Council is a non-profit organisation that represents 1,234 schools in the United Kingdom's independent education sector...
.
There are 130,000 pupils in over 500 schools of all types and sizes. Prep schools may be for boys or girls only, or may be co-educational; for instance, one of the leading prep schools, Clept Esten in wales is a small school open for girls only. They may be day schools, boarding schools, weekly boarding, flexi-boarding, or a combination. They fall into the following general categories:
- Wholly independent prep schools, both charitable and proprietary
- Junior schools linked to senior schools
- Choir schools, which educate child choristers of cathedralCathedralA cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
s and some other large religious institutions; they all accept non-chorister pupils with the exception of Westminster Abbey Choir SchoolWestminster Abbey Choir SchoolWestminster Abbey Choir School is a British boarding preparatory school and the only school in the United Kingdom exclusively for the education of boy choristers. It is located in Dean's Yard, by Westminster Abbey...
; these schools are usually affiliated to Anglican churches, but may occasionally be associated with Catholic ones such as Westminster CathedralWestminster CathedralWestminster Cathedral in London is the mother church of the Catholic community in England and Wales and the Metropolitan Church and Cathedral of the Archbishop of Westminster... - Schools offering special educational provision or facilities
- Schools with particular religious affiliations
Associations with the ruling class
The role of public schools in preparing pupils for the gentlemanly elite in the period before World War II meant that such education, particularly in its classical focus and social mannerism, became a mark of the ruling class. For three hundred years, the officers and senior administrators of the "empire upon which the sun never set" (The British Empire) invariably sent their sons back home to boarding schools for education as English gentlemen, often for uninterrupted periods of a year or more at a time.The 19th century public school ethos promoted ideas of service to Crown and Empire, understood by the broader public in familiar sentiments such as "it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game" and "the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton". Ex-pupils often had a nostalgic affection for their old schools and a public school tie could be useful in a career, so an "old boy network" of former pupils became important.
The English public school model influenced the nineteenth century development of Scottish private schools, but a tradition of the gentry sharing primary education with their tenants kept Scotland comparatively egalitarian.
Acceptance of social elitism was set back by the two World Wars, but despite portrayals of the products of public schools as "silly asses" and "toff
Toff
In British English slang, a toff is a mildly derogatory term for someone with an aristocratic background or belonging to the landed gentry, particularly someone who exudes an air of superiority...
s" the old "system" at its most pervasive continued well into the 1960s, reflected in contemporary popular fiction such as Len Deighton
Len Deighton
Leonard Cyril Deighton is a British military historian, cookery writer, and novelist. He is perhaps most famous for his spy novel The IPCRESS File, which was made into a film starring Michael Caine....
's The IPCRESS File
The Ipcress File
The IPCRESS File was the first spy novel by Len Deighton, published in 1962.It was made into a film in 1965 produced by Harry Saltzman and directed by Sidney J. Furie, starring Michael Caine as the protagonist....
, with its sub-text of supposed tension between the grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
educated protagonist and the public school background of his superior but inept colleague. Postwar social change
Social change
Social change refers to an alteration in the social order of a society. It may refer to the notion of social progress or sociocultural evolution, the philosophical idea that society moves forward by dialectical or evolutionary means. It may refer to a paradigmatic change in the socio-economic...
has however gradually been reflected across Britain's educational system, while at the same time fears of problems with state education have pushed some parents who can afford the fees or qualify for bursaries towards public schools, which are now often referred to as independent schools.
Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
leaders Clement Attlee
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
, Hugh Gaitskell
Hugh Gaitskell
Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell CBE was a British Labour politician, who held Cabinet office in Clement Attlee's governments, and was the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1955, until his death in 1963.-Early life:He was born in Kensington, London, the third and youngest...
, Michael Foot
Michael Foot
Michael Mackintosh Foot, FRSL, PC was a British Labour Party politician, journalist and author, who was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1955 and from 1960 until 1992...
and Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
were educated at independent schools, but the former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
and current Labour party leader Ed Miliband
Ed Miliband
Edward Samuel Miliband is a British Labour Party politician, currently the Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition...
, attended a state school.
Whilst the current Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
leader and Prime Minister, David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....
was educated at Eton (and the Conservatives' Chancellor
Chancellor
Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...
George Osborne
George Osborne
George Gideon Oliver Osborne, MP is a British Conservative politician. He is the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, a role to which he was appointed in May 2010, and has been the Member of Parliament for Tatton since 2001.Osborne is part of the old Anglo-Irish aristocracy, known in...
attended St Paul's School), all Conservative leaders from 1965 to 2005 were educated at selective state grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
s, including former prime ministers Ted Heath, Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
, and John Major
John Major
Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...
.
With the exception of Charles Kennedy
Charles Kennedy
Charles Peter Kennedy is a British Liberal Democrat politician, who led the Liberal Democrats from 9 August 1999 until 7 January 2006 and is currently a Member of Parliament for the Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency....
, all other past leaders of the Liberal Democrat party, including David Steel
David Steel
David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, KT, KBE, PC is a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as the Leader of the Liberal Party from 1976 until its merger with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats...
, Paddy Ashdown
Paddy Ashdown
Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, GCMG, KBE, PC , usually known as Paddy Ashdown, is a British politician and diplomat....
, and Menzies Campbell
Menzies Campbell
Sir Walter Menzies "Ming" Campbell, CBE, QC, MP is a British Liberal Democrat politician and advocate, and a retired sprinter. He is the Member of Parliament for North East Fife, and was the Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2 March 2006 until 15 October 2007.Campbell held the British record...
, were educated at fee-paying schools. Without precedent, both main candidates in the 2007 election for the leadership of the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
– Nick Clegg
Nick Clegg
Nicholas William Peter "Nick" Clegg is a British Liberal Democrat politician who is currently the Deputy Prime Minister, Lord President of the Council and Minister for Constitutional and Political Reform in the coalition government of which David Cameron is the Prime Minister...
and Chris Huhne
Chris Huhne
Christopher Murray Paul-Huhne, generally known as Chris Huhne is a British politician and cabinet minister, who is the current Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for the Eastleigh constituency in Hampshire...
– were educated at the same independent school, Westminster School
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
.
In 2003, 84% of senior Judges in England and Wales were educated at independent schools, as surveyed in 2003 by law firm SJ Berwin
SJ Berwin
SJ Berwin is an international law firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is currently the 19th-largest law firm in the UK measured by revenues...
.
This is especially significant considering that just 18% of British sixth form
Sixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
ers study for their 'A' levels at independent schools.
Criticisms
Independent schools are often criticised for being elitist and such schools are often seen as outside the spirit of the state system. However, the treatment of the state sector as homogeneous in nature is difficult to support. The spectrum of state schools, their intake and performance is enormous, going from 'super selective', selective, right down to what Newsam referred to as 'sub secondary modern'. Many of the state grammar schools are highly selective and state funded boarding schools require substantial fees, which may introduce further barriers to entry. Even traditional comprehensive schools may be effectively selective because only wealthier families can afford to live in their catchment area and it may be argued that the gap in performance between state schools is much larger than that between the better state and grammar schools and the independent sector. Smithers and Robinson's 2010 Sutton Trust commissioned study of social variation in comprehensive schools (excluding grammar schools) notes that 'The 2,679 state comprehensive schools in England are highly socially segregated: the least deprived comprehensive in the country has 1 in 25 (4.2%) of pupils with parents on income benefits compared with over 16 times as many (68.6%) in the most deprived comprehensive'Nevertheless, many of the best-known public schools are extremely expensive, and many have entry criteria geared towards those who have been at private 'feeder' preparatory-schools or privately tutored. Going some way to countering the charge of exclusivity, a large number (c. one third) of independent school pupils provide assistance with fees. The Thatcher government introduced the Assisted Places Scheme
Assisted Places Scheme
The Assisted Places Scheme was established in the UK by the Conservative government in 1980. Children who could not afford to go to fee-paying independent schools were provided with free or subsidised places - if they were able to score within the top 10-15% of applicants in the school's entrance...
in England and Wales in 1980, whereby the state paid the school fees for those pupils capable of gaining a place but unable to afford the fees. This was essentially a response to the decision of the previous Labour government in the mid-1970s to remove government funding of direct grant grammar school
Direct grant grammar school
A direct grant grammar school was a selective secondary school in England and Wales between 1945 and 1976 funded partly by the state and partly through private fees....
s, most of which then became private schools; some Assisted Places pupils went to the former direct-grant schools such as Manchester Grammar School
Manchester Grammar School
The Manchester Grammar School is the largest independent day school for boys in the UK . It is based in Manchester, England...
. The scheme was terminated by the Labour government in 1997, and since then the private sector has moved to increase its own means-tested bursaries.
The former classics-based curriculum was also criticised for not providing skills in sciences or engineering, but was perhaps in response to the requirement of classics for entry to Oxbridge
Oxbridge
Oxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in England, and the term is now used to refer to them collectively, often with implications of perceived superior social status...
up until the early 1960s, as well as a hangover from the pre-20th century period when only Latin and Greek were taught at many public schools. It was Martin Wiener
Martin Wiener
Martin Joel Wiener is an American academic and author. He is currently the chair of the history department at Rice University.- English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit: The Wiener Debate :...
's opposition to this tendency which inspired his 1981 book English Culture and the Decline of the Industrial Spirit: 1850-1980. It became a huge influence on the Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
government's opposition to old-school gentlemanly Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
ism. Nowadays, independent school pupils have "the highest rates of achieving grades A or B in A level maths and sciences" compared to grammar, specialist and mainstream state schools, and pupils at independent schools account for a disproportionate number of the total number of A levels in maths and sciences.
Some parents complain that their rights and their children’s are compromised by vague and one-sided contracts which allow Heads to use discretionary powers unfairly, such as in expulsion
Expulsion (academia)
Expulsion or exclusion refers to the permanent removal of a student from a school system or university for violating that institution's rules. Laws and procedures regarding expulsion vary between countries and states.-State sector:...
on non-disciplinary matters. They believe independent schools have not embraced the principles of natural justice
Natural justice
Natural justice is a term of art that denotes specific procedural rights in the English legal system and the systems of other nations based on it. Whilst the term natural justice is often retained as a general concept, it has largely been replaced and extended by the more general "duty to act fairly"...
as adopted by the state sector, and private law
Private law
Private law is that part of a civil law legal system which is part of the jus commune that involves relationships between individuals, such as the law of contracts or torts, as it is called in the common law, and the law of obligations as it is called in civilian legal systems...
as applied to Higher Education.
Generally political attacks on private schools have been opposed by concern that there should be no totalitarian state control of education.
In 2006, pupils at fee-paying schools made up 43% of those selected for places at Oxford University and 38% of those granted places at Cambridge University (although such pupils represent only 18% of the 16 years old plus school population).
However, the progression of pupils to Russell Group universities, including Oxbridge, is complex. For example, many independent schools (and most of the prestigious schools) take pupils at thirteen, so they would be expected to attract the strongest applicants from many feeder schools. In effect the system 'distills talent' so that a higher probability of progression to the most selective universities would be expected: as noted above, the increased probability of Oxbridge entrance is roughly (43 to 38)/18 or about two to one.
A major area of debate in recent years has centred around the continuing charitable status of independent schools, which allows them not to charge VAT on school fees. Following the enactment of the Charities Bill, which was passed by the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
in November 2006, charitable status is based on an organisation providing a "public benefit" as judged by the Charity Commission. Pending the Charity Commission publishing its definitive guidance on "public benefit" at the end of 2008, there remains an incentive for independent schools to share their sporting, musical and other facilities with the public or local state schools, and supplement their charitable endowments with an increased number of subsidised scholarships and bursaries.
School type and eventual degree class
In 2002, Jeremy Smith and Robin Naylor of the University of WarwickUniversity of Warwick
The University of Warwick is a public research university located in Coventry, United Kingdom...
conducted a study into the determinants of degree performance at UK universities. Their study confirmed that the internationally recognized phenomenon whereby “children from more advantaged class backgrounds have higher levels of educational attainment than children from less-advantaged class backgrounds" persists at university level in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
The authors noted “a very well-determined and monotonically positive effect defined over Social Classes I to V” whereby, for both men and women, “ceteris paribus, academic performance at university is better the more advantaged is the student's home background.” but they also observed that a student educated at an independent school was on average 6% less likely to receive a first or an upper second class degree than a student from the same social class background, of the same gender, who had achieved the same A-level score at a state school . The averaged effect was described as very variable across the social class and A-level attainment of the candidates; it was "small and not strongly significant for students with high A-level scores" (i.e. for students at the more selective universities) and “statistically significant mostly for students from lower occupationally-ranked social-class backgrounds”. Additionally, the study could not take into account the effect of a slightly different and more traditional subject mix studied by independent students at university on university achievement. Despite these caveats, the paper attracted much press attention. The same study found wide variations between independent school, suggesting that students from a few of them were in fact significantly more likely to obtain the better degrees than state students of the same gender and class background having the same A-level score.
A subsequent study led by Richard Partington at Cambridge University showed that A-level performance is "overwhelmingly" the best guide to what class of degree an undergraduate was likely to achieve at Cambridge. Partington's summary specified that "questions of school background and gender" ... "make only a marginal difference and the pattern – particularly in relation to school background – is in any case inconsistent."
A study commissioned by the Sutton Trust
Sutton Trust
The Sutton Trust is an educational charity in the United Kingdom which aims to provide educational opportunities to young people from non-privileged backgrounds...
and published in 2010 focussed mainly on the possible use of US-style SAT tests as a way of detetecting candidate's academic potential. Its findings confirmed those of the Smith & Naylor study in that it found that privately educated pupils who, despite their educational advantages, have only secured a poor A level score , and who therefore attend less selective universities, do less well than state educated degree candidates with the same low A-level attainment. A countervailing finding of the same study was that for students of a given level of A-level attainment it is almost twice as difficult to get a First at the most selective universities than at those on the other end of the scale. In addition, and as discussed in the 2010 Buckingham report 'HMC Schools: a quantitative analysis', because students from state schools tended to be admitted on lower A-level entry grades, relative to entry grades it could be claimed that these students had improved more . It is also worth noting that given that independent sector schools regularly dominate the top of the A level league tables, and that their students are more likely to apply to the most selective universities, especially the ones requiring 3 A or A* grades at A level, independent sector students are particularly well represented at these institutions, where they are disproportionately competing with each other and where only the very ablest of them are likely to secure the best degrees.
See also
- Education in the United KingdomEducation in the United KingdomEducation in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter with each of the countries of the United Kingdom having separate systems under separate governments: the UK Government is responsible for England, and the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive are...
- Independent school fee fixing scandal
- School and university in literatureSchool and university in literature-School in literature:*Thomas Bailey Aldrich: The Story of a Bad Boy*Laurie Halse Anderson: Speak*Christine Anlauff: Good morning, Lehnitz*F...
- Schools Class locomotivesSR Class VThe SR V class, more commonly known as the Schools class, is a class of steam locomotive designed by Richard Maunsell for the Southern Railway. The class was a cut down version of his Lord Nelson class but also incorporated components from Urie and Maunsell's LSWR/SR King Arthur class...
for a class of Southern Railway locomotives that were named after Public Schools in the early 1930s
External links
- 'To fail them all their days' By Ben Locker and William Dornan in The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
. April 3, 2007