Privately educated ‘still dominate professions’

Leading British actors are more than twice as likely as stars in the music industry to have attended fee-paying schools, the Sutton Trust says.

It also says professions like politics and the law continue to be dominated by privately educated Oxbridge graduates.

The Trust said a child’s chances of reaching the top still came down to their schooling and contacts.

The government said the state sector was increasingly matching the private sector in terms of academic attainment.

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Sutton Trust research fellow Dr Philip Kirby, who wrote the report, said: “Young people from more advantaged backgrounds often have broader professional social networks, which can be used to access certain jobs, as well as parents who might be more able to support them through unpaid internships, which are increasingly important for career development.”

Chairman of the Sutton Trust Sir Peter Lampl said: “Our research shows that your chances of reaching the top in so many areas of British life are very much greater if you went to an independent school.

“As well as academic achievement, an independent education tends to develop essential skills such as confidence, articulacy and team work which are vital to career success.

“The key to improving social mobility at the top is to open up independent schools to all pupils based on merit not money as demonstrated by our successful Open Access scheme, as well as support for highly able students in state schools.”

Read the full report here. The report also featured on the Today programme papers review, and on BBC local radio stations in Oxford, Solent and Hereford and Worcester.