Independence and Access

Access to higher education remains something of a political football, one politicians of all parties seem to enjoy kicking around. Of course, the university sector is one which has been shaken quite a bit  – fees, marketisation, now controversies over Vice Chancellors’ salaries and sector pay and conditions. All have largely been to the sector’s improvement. But myths stick fast, and one of those myths surrounds the role played in higher education by independent schools.

Along with a convenient picture of privilege, fuelled by muttering about the coalition cabinet, and a murky one of danger, with teenage problems supposedly worse in high achieving schools, the image of an independent schools’ closed shop in places at top universities is a powerful one.

It makes sense to the public: fee-paying parents must be paying for something, and the something they are most likely to be paying for is access to good universities. Stories continue to abound about the domination of the Russell Group by independent schools … how do they do it? Surely it must be by knowing the secrets, and keeping them to themselves.

Well, the truth is different. HMC and GSA, which represent most of the leading independent secondary schools in the UK, commission each year a series of surveys into access to Higher Education. We analyse figures from our schools carefully, track changes from year to year and ask for detailed comments on fairness from our member schools. We do this because good quality data informs the choices our own students make, of course, but also because amongst the fierce opinions and often rather ill-informed debates about access to higher education, some facts are important.

We do it, too, frankly to hold some of the top universities to account. Oxbridge and the rest of the Russell Group can largely control their admissions. Oxford and Cambridge are so sought-after that no-one is really going to complain when they don’t get a place. But it’s important that the consumer – the student – sees some evidence of fairness, that applicants don’t all meekly creep away if rejected, that someone gathers data and feedback from youngsters and brings it to admissions tutors’ attention.

So, for example, our Oxbridge survey this year told us yet again that some candidates are given insufficient feedback, that admissions tests are often opaque and subjective, and that candidates are kept waiting around too long.

We sent some detailed feedback to the admissions offices of both universities on a largely fair, but imperfect set of systems. Our sample of about 10 per cent of their applicants is small, but robust. The analysis is also detailed, so that we are able to hold to account the offices of the country’s top two universities in a way no-one else does. Not just for ourselves: we don’t just want our candidates to be successful, we want all good applicants to have a good experience, and for the system to identify the best candidates efficiently and sensitively.

More importantly, our surveys of what our schools do to support university entrance provides pretty impressive evidence of partnerships between the independent and maintained sector. This year, we asked 148 leading independent schools, representing 3,719 Oxbridge applications – about 10% of Oxbridge applications this year, whether they helped any maintained school pupils with preparation for top universities.

You might expect businesses to share facilities with the community, but would you expect them to share commercial confidences? In fact, 83 of our 148 schools gave detailed examples of regular, serious and free programmes aimed at helping state school pupils to get into those top universities. 46 schools – a third of those polled – give free practice interviews to local state school pupils.

This is not just help to a few of the brightest: one school described interviewing more than 80 state school candidates over a two-week period to help them get Oxbridge places; another independent school interviewed 24 local sixth form college applicants.  Of those surveyed, 21 run workshops to help applications, including at least one free summer school, and many helped in preparing for admissions tests. 34 run regular conferences or evenings on access to higher education: my own school organises an event aimed at younger children aspiring to be medics.

A wealth of specialist advice has been built up in independent schools, enabling bright students to be guided through the minefield of medicine applications, maths modules, IB equivalence and aptitude tests. We don’t keep that advice to ourselves: we want access to higher education to be clear, fair and not predestined according to the quality of your head of sixth form. That’s why we do this work.

I know this is still relatively small beer. But it’s also the tip of the iceberg. Independent schools have traditionally been a bit meek about their social role: many pupils at independent schools are entitled to free school meals, but given a wonderful education not at the state’s expense. We also help support the science, technology and languages departments in leading universities because of our teaching of facilitating subjects, and we help to open up those avenues to all students, by being centres of excellent higher education preparation for many state school students

This is genuinely sector-blind help.  Some students – who should perhaps have more help from the state – rely on us. Others at least gain some benefit from us. We’re politically neutral and doing our best to plug a gap. Our help to other students shouldn’t be necessary. But it is, and for their sakes, we’re happy to give it.

Chris Ramsey is Headmaster of The King’s School Chester and co-chair of the HMC/GSA Universities Committee.