TRANSFORMATIONAL BURSARIES

WHERE’S THE EVIDENCE?

Hugo Middlemas admits to being surprised by the slow growth of means-tested bursaries and urges independent schools to both think creatively about the awards they make and help gather evidence on their impact on social mobility.

Social mobility has rightly been on all our agendas for some time.

Progress for many in the UK has stalled and the impact of economic and social challenges over the past three years continues to be felt. The ISC Annual Census from early 2022 highlights the huge effort schools are making through means-tested bursaries and partnerships that benefit young people and communities way beyond the physical boundaries of our schools. Behind the numbers are tens of thousands of stories of young people being given a potentially life-changing opportunity they would otherwise not be able to access.

Bursary statistics

Working at Christ’s Hospital (CH), the UK’s leading bursary charity, I was interested to see how the ISC’s bursary statistics have changed over time. There has been much talk of schools prioritising 100% ‘transformational bursaries’ to help those most in need, so I was expecting to see a dramatic change there as well as in overall bursary numbers. It came as rather a surprise then to see that, between 2014 and 2022, the total number of means-tested bursaries provided by ISC schools has in fact fallen by 2%. Even stranger, the number of 100% bursaries has only increased by 1% over the same period. Perhaps this is down to the lag time between new fundraising efforts and selecting the bursary candidates?

What was more encouraging was the 12% growth in the number of bursaries at the 75%–99% level. This is where the majority of bursaries at Christ’s Hospital lie. The average CH bursary is 83% and we are very clear that social need can be just as high for these young people as for those with a 100% bursary. I wonder if the sector’s apparent focus on 100% bursaries as being the gateway to social mobility risks diverting attention from the powerful change that can be enabled through ‘transformational’ bursaries at these lower levels, particularly where social challenges may not be accompanied by extreme poverty. Or perhaps, for some, a focus purely on economic disadvantage – with the 100% bursary as the pinnacle – fits best with their pastoral resources?

Measuring long-term impact

Whatever approach we take, measuring the long-term impact of bursaries on social mobility is crucial. Can we as a sector demonstrate that young people with bursaries go on to earn more and be in higher-level jobs than their parents – the measure the Social Mobility Commission uses for upward social mobility?

With schools’ alumni programmes providing the ideal platform for longitudinal research on our alumni’s income and employment, together with our bursary assessment data, our sector is particularly well positioned to capture and analyse key long-term social mobility data.

Christ’s Hospital’s research into the long-term outcomes for its pupils with bursaries has shown clear evidence of social mobility, including median household incomes at three times that of their parents. Such long-term data appears to be a significant gap for the Social Mobility Commission at present. Might there be an opportunity for schools to collaborate in such research and communicate the significant impact bursary programmes have? ●

Hugo Middlemas

is the Director of Development at Christ’s Hospital.