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Private School Pupils 'Three Times More Likely' To Achieve Top A Levels Than State School Students

PA/Huffington Post UK  |  Posted: Updated: 20/05/2012 19:15

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A Level Results
Nick Clegg is to stress the corrosive impact that the gap between state and private education has on society

Children educated privately are three times more likely than state pupils to attain top A-Level grades, new government data has revealed.

Fresh figures are to reveal that those educated independently are more than three times more likely to achieve AAB in subjects identified by the Russell Group as "facilitating" entry to their universities, with 7% of state school students achieving AAB across the 2010-11 year group, compared with almost a quarter (23.1%) in the independent sector.

Nick Clegg is to spell out the "corrosive" impact that the rift in Britain's education system has on society in a speech on Tuesday.

His commitment to "narrowing the gap" across the country's schools marks the first update since launching "Opening Doors, Breaking Barriers: A Strategy for Social Mobility" last year.

The deputy Prime Minister will outline a set of indicators to measure the impact of government policies on social mobility, including those measuring the A-Level attainment gap between independent and state schools.

Mr Clegg will emphasise that social mobility is the "impulse" that lies behind the government's education reforms, including the pupil premium.

He will say at the conference, to be hosted by the Sutton Trust: "Education is critical to our hopes of a fairer society. Right now there is a great rift in our education system between our best schools, most of which are private, and the schools ordinary families rely on. That is corrosive for our society and damaging to our economy.

"I don't for a moment denigrate the decision of any parent to do their best for their child, and to choose the best school for them. Indeed, that aspiration on behalf of children is one of the most precious ingredients of parenthood.

He will add: "But we do need to ensure that our school system as a whole promotes fairness and mobility, that heals the rift in opportunities.

"We are committed to narrowing the gap in our school system - state and private - and ensuring that all children are given the chance to rise. The way to do that is to make the state education system better - to level up - and ensure that anyone can get ahead."

He is expected to reaffirm the Coalition's drive on reforming the pre-16 curriculum, plus improve teacher and school quality.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
purple1236
25 Fans
05:58 PM on 05/21/2012
We all know money talks , and its just a shame it never worked on some of the government , but if you think about it , how can they represent us , if they dont understand the way we the poor live , all they know is money , thats why they keep taking more and more off us .Plus with the cost going up to get more education , its only there for the rich .
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Clarks0n
24 Fans
11:48 AM on 05/21/2012
A-levels take more than just good schooling, you can't teach someone to an A. Unless the students put in a hell a lot of work on their own they won't achieve so the real issue is attitude and expectation. Some cultures have a negative attitude to work and can ruin school and college results records when they move to an area so the rich who can move or send their children to private schools. This has become such a problem in Canada they have made schools for a whole culture of people where education is never a strong point, to allow mainstream state schools to get back on track.
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Ladymacre
41 Fans
11:40 AM on 05/21/2012
And that's news? Of course they are more likely to achieve - not just in exam results either. Private schools employ good teachers and sufficient of them that are enabled to actually teach, classes are smaller so it enables the pupils to actually learn. The friends we make at school tend to stay friends for life in the main and so they will continue to support each other after school days are ended. The public sector needs to aspire to the standards of private schools not to limit them and drag them down to the average state school levels of non attainment and worse, lack of expectation, that is far too prevalent.
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majdf18148
I have nothing to declare but my curiosity
248 Fans
11:29 AM on 05/21/2012
It's no good anyone moaning about the privileged few. It's no good complaining that only those with money can afford a private education for ther children. We live in a democracy and people can spend their money on what they like. Most people I know who send their kids to private school took out education endowment policies when their children were born and some have endured real financial hardship to pay for it.One of the reasons children seem to thrive better in private schools is the ethos that if parents are paying for an education they will ensure their money is well spent and kids are not wasting the opportunities their parents have provided them with.That doesn't mean there aren't tons of kids in state schools with the same ethos it's just that private schools don't have the disruptive elements, they employ the best teachers, they are highly disciplined and that discipline is supported by the fee paying parents, classes are generally smaller in number and the teaching is generally more imaginitive and interesting. But in all of this, many parents today don't sem to believe and understand the role they have to play in ther kids' education. For some people school is where their children are looked after while the parents go to work. Kids need to be raised knowing that a good education is vital. It will define the rest of their lives and ultimately play a huge role in who and what they become.
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karen1963yorks
My micro bio was empty. Good.
332 Fans
03:20 PM on 05/21/2012
A democracy where people from Eton pass laws as long as they are approved by the house of Lords and the Queen.
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majdf18148
I have nothing to declare but my curiosity
248 Fans
03:55 PM on 05/21/2012
And your point is? All this toffs versus "us working class" is tiresome, inverted snobbery and pathetic. Eton is just another public school, not dissimilar to the ones Blair, Brown, and many other Labour MPs went to AND sent their children.Apart from which your post has little or nothing to do with the report which concerns fee paying schools' results in relation to state schools results. As an aside "people from Eton" don't pass any laws. Those who were educated there aren't necessarily "from" Eton and secondly Parliament, thats the whole cohort of MPs, Labour Lib/Dem Tories, Green, Respect,and any I have missed, THEY pass the laws. Nice to hear from you nevertheless.
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severus193to211
62 Fans
04:05 PM on 05/21/2012
majdf18148, a correct and well thought through analysis, although I do not entirely agree that private schools "employ the best teachers".
They are not brainwashed into the same way of teaching and managing the classroom as do the teachers in the state schools. They are successful teachers because they have academic and real life business knowledge and some of them have not done the brainwashing teachers' training course.
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majdf18148
I have nothing to declare but my curiosity
248 Fans
06:00 PM on 05/21/2012
Not always I agree. I have met some outstanding teachers at state schools, dedicated and at the very forefront of the teaching profession. What I meant is fee paying schools can attract the best and be choosy. Thanks for your resonse.
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severus193to211
62 Fans
11:13 AM on 05/21/2012
I am still trying to work out how privately educated son of a banker and grandson of an aristocratic Russian landowner Nick Clegg with his LibDems and Tory millionare partners will achieve "narrowing the gap" and "social mobility" by substantially increasing tuition fees and making it financially difficult for poorer students to go to university.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
fwdinsight
29 Fans
10:24 AM on 05/21/2012
I have brought up my own three children plus another two. My business was expanding and demanding. My wife and I both started at 8 am however from 6 am we worked with our chidrens education, Reading writing arithmatic. From the age of 8 they styarted reading readers digest stories. They then came and told me the story. It took just on a year for them to gebnerally get 90% of the words correct. So at 10 and 11 respectyively when thety returned to this country they both had reading capabilities to the age of 13.

My son was a little dixlecxic however in that time he seemed to overcome this problem,. Further I took them for Arithmatic so they knew their timestables. I also showed them quick systems for addition, multiplication addition and subtraction.

None of thios realy took lots of time but a little sacrifice in the mornings before the day started. Instead of lying in bed get up and get them in the way of rising early.

They made their own decisions and went to university and onbtained their degrees. Another boy I helped came to one of my businesses at about the age of 15 and asked for a job. He had shorts t shirt and slops. I taught him to read books. At the age of 40 he is an educator runs a big business and remains in contact. Yahwehnews commm
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benigndictator
0 Fans
10:15 AM on 05/21/2012
We put our twin girls into the local comp as I believed in the comprehensive system. After my girls were ignored by the teachers as they were bright & keen, and physically attacked by students for the same reason, we took them out and put them into a private school for Y10 & 11. They are currently doing their GCSEs and are forecast to be A/A* in most subjects (except French!)
We are not rich, we have given up holidays & any entertainment, we do not have posh phones, sky, new cars, my husband & i never go out. We have chosen to put all our money into our girl's education and our girls have blossomed at their private school. They no longer have to hide in the library to avoid being assaulted and love going to school.
It is the best thing we have done.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
lillian12130
36 Fans
10:10 AM on 05/21/2012
Of course children in private schools get better pass results , but if you are on a low income you can apply for a bursary
The National Scholarship Programme (NSP) helps students whose families’ income is £25,000 a year or less. Universities and colleges decide who to give financial help to from this group.

the facts are there are less students in a private school class and I assume they don't have distracting misbehaviour , they have opportunities to do much more, a friend of mine who has a son at a private school with the help of a bursary and he has been to Dubai with his school rugby team within his first year. I know people don't like to talk about old fashioned values but with respect maybe we should be using some. School uniforms it seems those from private school respect the uniform more so than some in state schools , not all children from state schools misbehave or look scruffy and some achieve high exam passes , but it is the minority (and I don't mean race) that pull the majority down , I know i am going to be pulled to pieces by some on here and for those who want to reply directly you won't be able to , I have the right to try and explain things or a right to my opinions so long as I am not being insulting
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BabyEatinAfeist
13 Fans
10:09 AM on 05/21/2012
"Private School Pupils 'Three Times More Likely' To Achieve Top A Levels Than State School Students"
The article lacks critical analysis. WHY are private school puplies 3x more likely to achieve top results? Where's the mention of private schools filtering the "lower tier" children out? Where do you think those "lower tier" children will go, private school or state schools? Where's the mention of private schools being able to spend more £ per pupil than state schools because private schools charge more? Where's the mention of the kind of background private school pupils may come from considering their parents would be able to afford private schooling?
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angieglenda
16 Fans
10:53 AM on 05/21/2012
The Bolitho School in Penzance does not filter children out. There are no entrance exams. The system filters children out all by itself. If a child achieves GCSE's of c's and under, then they are not A level material.
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pduck321
30 Fans
10:01 AM on 05/21/2012
Parental ambition for their children, simple really. Who wouldn't want their child to succeed in life? If that means spending a lot of money on their education, so be it ...
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athelstan48
10 Fans
09:57 AM on 05/21/2012
It's easy for us to judge whether parents are responsible for their children's achievement.
If you are working full time for poor pay it's very difficult to spend the time with your children that is needed.
The government wants parents to work and so we do ... not all of us have the wherewithall to employ expensive childcare and people have suggested that you don't have to be rich to send your children to private schools.
Try to afford the fees when joint household income is less than £30,000 a year. No matter how much you 'scrimp and save' it's impossible. The quality of your kid's education also depends to some extent on the area where you live some schools are better than others and there's very little choice. Again if you can afford a house in an affluent area your children get a better education.
Yes there are some parents who don't support their kids and could do more to push them but not all parents from poorer homes are the same. The education system lets poorer children down and always has.
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cantabria
my default position is wrong
363 Fans
11:45 AM on 05/21/2012
I agree with everything you say. Rich parents buy privlage for their kids, hardly a shock horror story, it has always been like that. They go to the right school, the system provides good exam results, they then get into the right universities and then they get a shoe in to the top jobs in ministries and business, ending with being awarded OBEs, CBEs, knighthoods etc. They are no more intelligent than anybody else, just playing the system for personal gain. It's wrong. In the end the country as a whole suffers because everything is run by this clan and not by the right people for the jobs. Parliament is full of them.
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buchanallan
10 Fans
09:06 AM on 05/21/2012
When will the government waken up. All children are not the same and they do not all have the same potential. There is no point in putting them all through the same system and expecting good results. The difference in results between private and state schools is not that one is necessarily better than the other, it is due to parental encouragement, support and expectations. Because state-schooling is provided free, there is no parental responsibility. When a child fails to succeed in a state school, it is the school's or the teachers' fault. Not all children attending private schools are from super-rich families. If a family has to scrimp to send their child to a private school, they expect results.
I went to a state-run comprehensive and had to sit with a bunch of wasters whose only ambition seemed to be to make our teachers life hell, had no interest in their education and had no support from their parents. Luckily, my parents had been through the system before and gave me a lot of support leading to me getting a place at university.
It is about time the government re-introduced the old style grammar schools for people who are interested in education; the rest can attend technical schools where they may pick up skills which are more appropriate to a trade.
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crystakura
58 Fans
09:04 AM on 05/21/2012
Stating the obvious here. Private schools breed harder workers and smarter children.
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karen1963yorks
My micro bio was empty. Good.
332 Fans
03:25 PM on 05/21/2012
If the teachers are breeding children that is very wrong. In an all boys school it is mind boggling.
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crystakura
58 Fans
04:07 PM on 05/21/2012
Here are some synonyms of breed dear.
Raise, nurture, educate, instruct..
The list goes on and on and these private school kids know them well.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
purple1236
25 Fans
08:16 AM on 05/21/2012
To be honest , could it be , when one is rich , it can pay for anything , and knowing people in high places like MURDOCH .
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
purple1236
25 Fans
08:13 AM on 05/21/2012
Having a laugh are you not , thats why they pay , for better education .Or its a question of mummy and daddy pay , when one is rich .Cant have you mixing with us poor people , one can not .
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
PhilEssex
Statistically, 6 out of 7 dwarves are not happy.
69 Fans
 
02:54 PM on 05/21/2012
Totally agree purple and look what we end up with, people like Doppy Cam and Co, speaks volumes.
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