Let’s be bold and put forward a positive case for phasing out public schools

By James Gray

Private schools are in the news again. Earlier this week the Charities Commission published its first “public-benefit” assessment of private schools with charitable status. Two private schools failed the new requirement, introduced in 2006, to show that they are actively benefiting the public. These schools now risk having their tax breaks removed, which could lead to them being taken over or closed down.

And this week, we hear about Alan Milburn’s report on social mobility, which apparently recommends strengthening the rules further. The report suggests that the Charity Commission should force private schools to share extracurricular activities with state school pupils.

When Elizabeth 1st first attempted to regulate schools in the late 16th Century, they really were committed to the aim of serving the common good. That aim has long since been abandoned. A private school by definition can never be working for public benefit, so let’s get rid of this historical anomaly altogether and stop subsidising them.

But that’s a pretty sneaky way of undermining the private school sector isn’t it? Let’s be bold. Let’s put forward a positive, cohesive case for phasing out private schools.

Milburn is quite right to look at what goes on outside the classroom, but by focusing on music, art and sport clubs he takes a very narrow view of “extra-curricular activities”. Take any state school and you will find a plethora of after-school (and before-school) clubs run by dedicated teachers, often in their own time. Take into account the activities run by local charities and community groups and your average state school pupil is spoiled for choice – especially in the inner cities.

The really crucial “extra-curricular” activities are the social networks built by a private education. Allowing affluent and influential parents to opt out of the state system entrenches inequality by ensuring that the children of barristers, CEOs, diplomats and politicians only ever socialise with each other. (The claim by the independent schools lobby that “even plumbers” pay school fees now is disingenuous. The economic downturn means that those few self-employed tradespeople that could afford to send their children to fee-paying schools are ambadoning the private sector in droves.)

The benefits of a private education aren’t really seen in exam results. After all, there are only so many ‘A’ grades you can get. We know that a bright child, with supportive and engaged parents, can get excellent grades whether in the private or public sector.

No, the real benefit of a private education is social capital. It’s access to a network of informal advice and support, the daily exposure to ambition and opportunity, aspiration and achievement. And it’s these benefits that cannot be shared by opening up the science labs.

By phasing out private schools, this social capital can begin to be shared out more equally. Yes, it would almost certainly mean that some children from wealthy backgrounds earn a lower salary or end up in a lower status job than their parents. But the hard truth is that you can’t have upward social mobility without downward social mobility. It’s just dishonest to pretend otherwise.

The carrots designed to tempt wealthy parents back into the state sector – city academies, city technology colleges, and specialist status schools – have not worked. That’s because the decision to send their children to fee-paying schools is not based on first-hand experience of the state sector. It’s based on a combination of fear and a sense of entitlement. It’s a potent mix that won’t be undermined by gimmicks.

As a party we may feel embarrassed about the issue of private schools. After all, so many Labour politicians are products of the private sector that we stand accused of being hypocrites. Worse, many Labour MPs send their children to fee-paying schools. They should feel embarrassed, but we don’t have to.

We’ve spent too long cow-towing to the private sector, employing its vocabulary and accepting its claims without question. The vast majority of the electorate will never attend or send their children to private schools. Most will never even meet someone who has been to private school. Yet the people making decisions which profoundly affect their lives – be it politicians, judges or chief executives – are overwhelmingly drawn from independent schools. It’s an imbalance we should be ashamed of.

Labour seems to have forgotten that we can win arguments – and this is an argument we must win.