Sending girls to private school ‘doesn’t boost earnings’

SENDING girls to private school will not help them earn more – and the old boys’ network is still placing men in jobs with high salaries, a study has suggested.

Researchers at University College London’s Institute of Education followed 7,000 people born in 1970 to see how their background and education affected their earnings and profession. They found that by middle age, those with the best education were in the best jobs, but merely having a degree did not guarantee a large salary.

The findings showed that a child’s social origins – such as their schooling or parents’ profession and income – were much more significant to their earnings by the age of 42.

Those who grew up with advantages such as higher family income and a private education were much more likely to have made it into the top 15 per cent of earners – £85,000 per year or more for men and £76,000 for women – by their early forties. Men who attended private schools were approximately twice as likely to be in the top income bracket than those who went to comprehensive schools, even when they had gained similar qualifications.

However, there was no private school advantage for women, even when they achieved the same results, suggesting that other factors were at play helping men into better-paid jobs.

Prof Alice Sullivan, the study’s lead author, said the findings may show that the “old boys’ network” was still helping men to achieve more.

“I think it’s a definite possibility because male private schools have a strong tradition of getting pupils into top jobs, particularly in areas like banking which are very highly paid and which are male-dominated in general.

“Women’s private schools, particularly in the Eighties, when these people would have been attending, tended to have a less academic focus and were less ambitious. Women were not encouraged to be in the same position in the jobs market as men.”

The researchers found that gaining a degree helped in attaining a senior managerial or professional position by the age of 42. However, going to an elite university did not make any difference once degree subject was taken into account.

“Taking a law degree at a polytechnic appeared to be just as beneficial as an arts degree at a Russell group,” said Dr Sullivan. For both sexes, social sciences and arts and humanities degrees gave about twice the odds of a top job compared with no degree, but degrees in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), and in law, economics and management (LEM) subjects provided significantly greater advantages.

Women with an LEM degree were seven times more likely to land a top job than women with no degree. Women with a STEM degree were almost three times more likely.