Spare a thought for the upper middle classes. Buying a private-school education in the UK used to be enough to get into Oxbridge or at the very least become prime minister, but the tide may be (slightly) turning. New research shows private-school pupils are up to a third more likely to get into Cambridge if they move to a state sixth form. Students who stayed at private schools for A-levels had an acceptance rate of 19% last year. But those who moved from a fee-paying school to a grammar school or sixth-form college had a success rate of about 25%. (Similar data from Oxford wasn’t available.)
Iain Mansfield, head of education at Policy Exchange, told the Telegraph that the figures suggest universities are discriminating against fee-paying families. “This demonstrates why universities should be selecting on ability, not discriminating based on a child’s background.” If Iain’s mad now, wait until he hears about these things called private schools.
This latest research reflects the wider trend of rising numbers of state-school pupils getting Oxbridge places in recent years. In 2022, the proportion of places offered to state-school students was 68% at Oxford and 72.5% at Cambridge; almost a decade earlier it was just 57% and 61% respectively. That’s definite progress. But it is less so when you consider that 83% of A-level students go to state schools.
At the same time, influential jobs acquired post-uni are still monopolised by the fee-paying sector; those in politics, the judiciary, media and business are five times more likely to have been to private school than the general population. Simply put, a few less rich families are getting into Oxbridge, but are still dominating every aspect of society. When you’re used to being on top, equality – or even mild progress – feels a lot like oppression.
Faced with this injustice, parents of private-school students are reportedly trying to “game the system” by registering under an obscure relative’s address in order to access a top-ranked state sixth form. The Times reported the case of “a capable but pony-loving teenage girl” who had been moved from her day school to a selective state school in a “tough neighbourhood” for her A-levels. “How on earth will she cope,” a family friend asked the paper. “How far are we willing to push social engineering, and at what mental cost?”
It’s a good question. How far are we willing to push social engineering? Very far it seems, so long as the social engineering is tilted towards children who are born privileged. This is the galaxy brain of the British class system, where state school pupils getting opportunities is “discriminatory” but private-school alumni buying access to Oxbridge is “fairness”.
While affluent parents can cry foul at the slightest encroachment of state-school children into elite institutions, the rest of the population is never allowed to object to the centuries-long dominance of private schools. Just look at how the rightwing press spins any debate about the issue as “the politics of envy”. Private-school advantage is so embedded in this country that even the mildest attempt to balance the scales is greeted with hysteria.
As we head towards the general election, expect this hysteria to ratchet up to Defcon 1. There are fears that if Labour gets into power and removes charitable tax breaks from private schools, some parents will no longer be able to afford the already inflation-hiked fees – and will have to put their children into the state sector instead. As one mother told the i paper last week, she is “sick and nervous” at the thought. We all have our fears. Mine is a clown that when it turns around is actually Michael Gove. But at a time when more and more parents lie awake at night worrying how to feed their children, it would not be unreasonable to suggest that public money should not be spent subsidising those whose biggest concern is sending their offspring to the local comp.
And yet even such a minor policy change is met with resistance, often on the grounds that it would punish ordinary people who “scrimp and save” for private school fees, as if a nurse would be able to afford St Paul’s for her sons if it wasn’t for that pesky VAT rate. The reality, of course, is that rather than ever being in reach of the average family, private schools are a bastion of the elite – and that’s exactly the point of them.
If the very establishments that symbolise – and perpetuate – elitism are open to the masses, the purpose of the private-school system starts to unravel. The pushback from wealthy families losing their hold on Oxbridge places is simple: certain families want to gatekeep their power.
Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist
