Private school worth two A-level grades
Students in independent sector get right A-level grades, in right subjects, for the best universities
‘Our research conclusively demonstrates that there was an advantage of going to a private sixth form’
PRIVATELY educated children can get up to two grades higher in their A-levels than their state school peers, a major study has found.
Once socio-economic background and academic attainment had been taken into account, students from feepaying schools were still more likely to be offered places by elite universities, the research showed.
This was partly due to their choice of subjects and partly due to their higher results, according to academics from University College London’s Institute of Education who analysed the data and backgrounds of more than 5,800 students born in 1990.
They found that students at independent schools were more likely to choose traditional subjects for A-levels – such as maths, further maths, English literature, languages, history, geography, physics, biology and chemistry – which are generally favoured by top universities. The research, published in the Oxford Review of Education, found that private pupils on average did better in A-levels by as many as two grades in the traditional subjects, which could be the difference between ABB and AAA. “These are non-trivial ‘effects’ which, if interpreted as reflecting a causal impact from private schools, could be set against the high fees by parents who are considering whether to invest in private education for their child at sixth form,” the report said.
Prof Francis Green, the principal investigator on the project, told The Daily Telegraph that private schools cost “an enormous sum of money”, and critics had previously suggested that bright students would do well wherever they went.
But he added: “Our research conclusively demonstrates that there was an advantage of going to a private sixth form.”
He said the grades advantage was not surprising, given the high levels of resources and smaller class sizes in private schools.
Dr Morag Henderson, lead author of the report, said the research presented “a picture of cumulative advantage from Britain’s private education”. The research showed that students from similar socio-economic backgrounds as each other with the same A-level grades in the same subjects were just as likely to get into top universities, regardless of where they went to school.