The Sutton Trust has just released its latest report on social mobility, the impartially (wink, wink) titled ‘Elitist Britain’ uses temperate language whilst talking about the elite’s “vice-like grip” on top jobs in the UK.
This is, of course, neither new nor news; as some of you may know, Clarendon’s Alma Mater was Eton College, which has produced twenty Prime Ministers of varying quality. Indeed, Clarendon was in Walpole House, named after Britain’s first PM. Then there was the Duke of Wellington, victor of Waterloo and architect of the Roman Catholic Relief Act. And how could we forget William Gladstone, who introduced primary education for all children, introduced secret ballots and extended voting rights in the 1884 Reform Act? And then of course there was Boris Johnson, who, erm, who … erm … I seem to have misplaced my notes. Didn’t he get caught on a zip line?
You can read more about it here, but we thought we’d distil the highlights and, as ever, give our thoughts:
- 6% of the population are educated privately.
- Out of the FTSE 100 CEOs, 37% were educated privately.
- 62% of senior judges were educated privately.
- 45% of podcasters (this inclusion made us chuckle).
- 52% of the House of Lords.
- 47% of permanent secretaries.
Clarendon’s thoughts:
- Of course, students from independent schools are disproportionately represented in top jobs.
- Independent schools do a fantastic job of fostering leadership skills in their students – independent strategising and delivery is encouraged, public speaking practised, students are engaged politically.
- For Clarendon, the tenor of the report is wrong, using words and phrases like “grossly unfair”, “disgrace” and “vice-like grip”. It decries how unfair it all is, rather than ask serous questions about what more can be done for state education to instil these children with the skills and belief for more leadership roles.
- Some of the stats are slightly cherry-picked – who cares if 45% of podcasters are educated privately? What does it really tell us that 95% of hereditary peers are privately educated (their titles are hereditary; isn’t this meant to be a report on social mobility?)? 62% of senior judges?! I happen to know a senior judge and I think it is fair to say he is from a different generation – he began his career in the 70s, as most senior judges did. Wouldn’t it be a more interesting statistic to see the % of barristers called to the Bar last year?
- I also think this report either ignores, or hasn’t thought of, a very important factor: the culture of the family. For families that send their kids to private school, education and resultant career paths are a priority. This is not just true of private school parents, it is also true of grammar school parents. Grammar school children are also disproportionately represented in government, in high ranking posts in the civil service and, by the Sutton Trusts own report, 30% of FTSE 100 CEOs went to grammar school (despite students making up 5% of the school population).
- I agree more needs to be done, but I would love this to be a positive conversation about education and empowerment.
