Running the Rule Over Schools

Let’s start with some good news. The quality of UK education is better than it is often portrayed in the media. In 2018 the UK was ranked sixth in the world by Pearson, the multinational educational publishing company. In Europe only Finland heads the UK, which holds a high place partly because of the strength of its university and higher education offering.

The West still lags behind South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. This reflects the economic growth of those countries, according to John Fallon, CEO of Pearson. It also reflects the culture of Asian countries, where the status of the

individual is embedded in the family and the community – interpendence compared with the West, which tends to favour independence and individualism.

6 tips on research

The best tip for parents is to research thoroughly at every stage of their child’s education. Today the pressure for places is strong, in good state schools as well as private schools, so check out what is available in both sectors.

1. Start your research by deciding what education is for. Do some online research, read some books and watch some 20-minute TED talks, especially on creativity in education by Sir Ken Robinson. He is a British educationist who lives in the US and whose TED talk has been watched by 57 million people since it was first broadcast in 2006. He doesn’t have all the answers, but he asks some interesting questions.

2. When you have looked at prospective schools online and read their brochures, visit some of them. Try to meet the head, the teachers and some pupils. Ask open questions to which the reply cannot be given in one word – the students will often give the most interesting answers.

3. Find out what non-curricular activities are available – art, theatre, dance, music, sport etc. The best schools usually have a broad culture.

4. How does the school prepare its pupils for the future with Careers Advice? Since September 2018 this is required by Ofsted which is looking for schools to meet eight ‘Gatsby’ benchmarks. Ask the school how they are measuring up.

5. Ensure that the school has a good pastoral system and is on top of bullying and disrupters. In truth the bully or disrupter may have great natural talents but is bored by school and disengaged at home in one way or another.

6. Trust your gut feeling.

Summary: By visiting a school, seeing the pupils moving around in herds, and asking the right questions you will get a good impression of the vibe of a place.

Getting to university requires confidence and, if Oxbridge is the goal, analytical skills.

Private or state?

This is the next big question. State education in the UK is improving and closing the gap with the private sector. Professor Alan Smithers is director of the Centre for Education and employment Research at the University of Buckingham, and he wrote in the Sunday Times last November:

“In 2016, before any of the new GCSEs came on stream, 79 schools attained the benchmark of exceptional performance of at least half their entries being awarded an A*. Of these, 63 were independent schools. This year, with new-style GCSEs mainly in place, the number of state schools reaching this pinnacle has more than doubled to 38 — nearly a third of those with these outstanding results.”

Professor Smithers points to a geographic imbalance in state education. “Too many children who show real promise at primary school do not go on to get good grades at GCSE.” He favours grammar schools and streaming in state secondaries.

“Learning is a social activity and there is a lot to be said for bringing bright pupils together. My experience as a workingclass lad in a grammar school was that my classmates showed me just what was possible if you applied yourself.”

He will be pleased to learn that children in primary school can expect increased attention on art, music and sport. This was announced in May by the chief schools inspector Amanda Spielman, who called for a “rich education” and the end of “teaching to the test”. She deplored the Dickensian cultures at some primaries where pupils were put off learning by repeated SATs’ tests. Learning needs to be enjoyable if possible.

You may consider private education as an investment in your child’s future. But there is a good argument for parents to consider sending their children to state schools, whether or not they have the money and the family is targeting university.

Oxbridge now offers an increasing proportion of places to pupils from state schools. In 2017, more than 64% of British school-leavers awarded a place at Cambridge were from state schools, up from 61% in 2013. At Oxford, the figures rose from 56.8% to 58.2%.

Although only 7% of pupils are privately educated this has caused the independent sector to complain of “social engineering – “rich” when you consider their innate advantages with great wealth, fine facilities and small classes.

Anthony Wallersteiner, head of Stowe School (alma mater of Richard Branson), told The Times in a front page story on 11 May that admission plans had “successfully driven down the number of Oxbridge places awarded to privately educated pupils”.

Many fee-paying parents are now making claims about social engineering and positive discrimination, he said. “There’s a much more concerted effort by [Oxbridge] admissions tutors to drive down the number of places given to independent schools and redress the balance and to put in contextual details, “But allowing access to gifted and qualified state school pupils seems only fair.”

University or apprentice or workplace?

Oxford and Cambridge are the top two universities in the world with Imperial College London in ninth place, according to The Times Higher Education Supplement.

Success at university requires academic ability, hard work and the social skills to cope with the pressures of work and hordes of bright young people.

The most important thing is that young people keep their eyes open and are offered a choice. After school, the best destination will be different for each individual – university, an apprenticeship or a job. But they need to have a clear view of the choices. Getting to university requires confidence and, if Oxbridge is the goal, analytical skills.

There are a number of apprenticeship jobs with professional firms and in the services, which also offer the chance to go to university or business school. A government scheme introduced in 2015 targeted 3 million apprentices in 2020, but it has its critics and is falling short at present. But at least it is a start in the right direction.

So, students must keep their options open as they progress through school. In any case, not everyone stars at school so let’s hope they find the inspiration to shine brightly outside academia in life and in the world of work – that surely is the point of education.