Choice, change and charitable status

Dr Andrew Cunningham takes a look at some of the key issues affecting the independent sector

A political buzzword
Parents considering an independent school for their child have never had so much choice. Independent schools are booming and now account for the education of 7% of all UK children. In areas such as London, where one in eight of all children are educated privately, that proportion is higher still. And every bad headline that affects the state sector – whether to do with teacher shortages or under-performing schools – gives a further boost to the whole independent sector.

And a new chain of cheaper independent schools, funded with Middle East money, the ‘GEMS’ chain (Global Education Management Systems), has just hit the headlines by pledging to provide a quality private education for around £6000 a year: roughly what it costs the taxpayer to fund each state sector child. Already GEMS has founded several schools in Milton Keynes, Basingstoke and Southampton. Long term, it has ambitious plans to become Britain’s biggest private school chain.

As well as increasing the choice of schools, this new initiative may even, who knows, help to bring down fee levels in the long term. After all, an independent education at the top end of the market is becoming difficult to finance, even for relatively well-off middle class families.

With the Conservatives pledged to introduce a ‘voucher’ system, which could offer parents an education voucher worth roughly the equivalent each year of fees around the GEMS level for parents to ‘spend’ as they wish, the private sector looks set to expand further still over the next few years.

A shifting mindset
Recent research by the Institute of Education at London University shows that over a quarter of all state school pupils now receive private tuition (27% in all). In some secondary schools, up to 60% of pupils are now tutored privately outside school. So whilst many parents may not be able to afford a full private school education, an ever-growing proportion is becoming accustomed to the idea of paying for at least some aspect of their child’s education.   

Charitable status
Yet some parts of the wider educational picture look less certain. On one hand, no serious political party now wants to abolish the independent school sector: the mantra amongst left-of-centre politicians is now, more sensibly, to learn from the success of independent schools rather than challenge them or abolish them outright. On the other hand, there will almost certainly be further discussion of the so-called ‘charitable status’ issue over the next few years. At present, most leading independent schools are registered charities, which means that they are VAT exempt. Should their charitable status be seriously threatened, then fees would be likely to rise once more. A number of leading voices – ranging from well-known educationalist Fiona Millar, a firm critic of the private sector, to the highly-influential Daily Telegraph education journalist John Clare – have recently argued that independent schools should do much more to earn their charitable status: by throwing open their magnificent facilities to more state sector children.

They have a case, of course. What is the point of all those superb playing fields and music schools lying idle for one-third of the year? This whole debate on charitable status is unlikely to go away in a hurry.

Universities: principle versus practice
Next, take the thorny issue of university admissions. Many parents may wonder: “Why am I paying all that money for a private school education, when there remains the very real possibility that my child will be discriminated against when he/she applies to university, under these new ‘social engineering’ policies?” Again, parents asking such questions have a valid point. There have been widespread and almost constant calls from the Government and the universities alike to ‘broaden’ university access and open up universities to more ‘disadvantaged’ students. Obviously the general principle here is a commendable one. But not if, in practice, it means pupils from a private school background are, in effect, treated as second-class university citizens.

In Summer 2004, there were a number of high-profile cases of bright, well-qualified applicants from independent schools not being able to get into their chosen universities – including a well-publicised case from the school I teach at, Charterhouse. Universities like Edinburgh and Exeter, which in the past have had high proportions of private school applicants, are now under much more pressure (including the threat of severe financial penalties) to take fewer private sector students.

And there could well be a new breed of well-off parent emerging, who gets round this problem of social engineering by, on the surface, sending their child to a state school – yet, in effect, giving them private school-style standards through extra tuition, as indeed in the case of Euan and Nicholas Blair, who had extra help in history and French from teachers at one of Britain’s top independents, Westminster. Who knows, there may even soon be a trend of parents pulling their children out of private schools at the age of 16, so that they can apply to universities as ‘state’ pupils from sixth form colleges.

The gold standard
As if that wasn’t enough, the whole issue of what your child may be studying when at school is now much more uncertain too. The future of A levels, the traditional gold standard of British education, is under increasing threat. There is talk of introducing a British Baccalaureate. Indeed an increasing number of independent schools – from Sevenoaks to Malvern College – now already study the International Baccalaureate (IB). No one knows exactly how these issues will develop by the time your child starts a new school. The one fact that seems certain is that there is bound to be further change.

Better shape than ever before
Yet, though parts of the general picture are uncertain, parents can rest assured on one fundamental truth: the facilities and standards at leading independent schools are higher than ever before. In terms of quality of ‘product’ there has never been a better time to ‘go private’. Facilities that were exceptional only a generation ago – all-weather pitches, floodlit pitches, single studies, state-of-the-art theatres and music schools – are now increasingly becoming standard. Both in terms of academic achievement, where independents regularly top the GCSE and A level league tables, and in terms of planning and building for the future, independent schools are in better shape than ever before. In contrast to the hard-pressed state sector, most have embarked upon major capital investment projects to make their facilities better still.

Yes, all those fees are expensive. But there is a very tangible return on them: in terms of better results – and in terms of the kind of opportunities and facilities on offer.

Dr Andrew Cunningham is editor of Conference & Common Room magazine, the Journal of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference, and teaches at Charterhouse.

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