Top university chances ‘same for grammar and state school pupils’

CHILDREN WHO attend grammar schools do not have a higher chance of attending a top university, it has been suggested.

But a private school education is likely to give a youngster an advantage in winning a place at a leading institution.

The findings are included in a series of papers published by the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi), which look at academic selection in England’s school system.

The paper, by Alice Sullivan, Professor of Sociology at the UCL Institute of Education, Department

of Social Science, cites research that looked at the link between secondary schooling and entry to highly-selective universities – those that typically ask for top A-level grades, for people born in 1970.

The research found significant differences in the chances of getting a degree from one of these top institutions.

Overall, 29 per cent of private school pupils gained a degree from an “elite” university, compared with 12 per cent of those who went to grammar school, 5 per cent who went to a comprehensive school and three per cent of those who attended a secondary modern.

“One could infer from this that grammar schools provided an important advantage in university entrance compared to non-selective schools,” the paper says.

But it goes on to say that, in general, children who went to private and grammar schools were from more advantaged backgrounds and had higher test scores before they started secondary school than those who went to a comprehensive.

Researchers took this and other factors into account, and examined whether the type of secondary school a child attended made a difference for youngsters from similar backgrounds and similar test scores.

They found that, in these circumstances, there was no advantage in the chances of getting a place at a top university for those who had been to a grammar school compared with those who were educated at a comprehensive.

But those who went to private school did still have an advantage.

The paper, published by Hepi, concludes: “In other words, private schools appeared to confer a genuine advantage in the chances of attending an elite university whereas grammar school pupils’ chances were comparable to those of comprehensive school pupils with similar socio-economic backgrounds and primary school test scores.”

Prof Sullivan, who was educated in Leeds, said: “Britain has a long history of selective schooling and long history of collecting high-quality longitudinal data. The British Birth Cohort Studies of 1946, 1958 and 1970 have all been used to examine selective schooling and social mobility.

“What these studies demonstrate very clearly is that expanding the number of grammar schools is unlikely to increase levels of educational or social mobility in this country.”

Another paper published by Hepi argues that improving access to higher education could be done by making universities more comprehensive.

At the moment, institutions ask for different entry grades – for example, depending on the university, published entry grades for computer science vary from two Cs at A-level to two A* and one A grade, with the actual range likely to be wider.

The paper’s author, Tim Blackman, Vice-Chancellor of the Open University, said: “Instead of more selection in secondary education, what is needed is less selection in higher education.”

Private schools appeared to confer a genuine advantage.

A Higher Education Policy Institute report by Professor Alice Sullivan.