Independent Schools in the United Kingdom

I

Introduction

Independent Schools in the United Kingdom, schools in the United Kingdom that are neither controlled nor financed by local or central government. They are sometimes referred to as fee-paying, private, or, in some cases, public schools. Each term is misleading to a degree, however: The schools are not fee-paying but fee-charging, and those attended by the majority of pupils in the independent sector are not private—that is, they are not run for private profit, but by a board of governors under charity legislation that ensures that any surplus income is put back into the school.

The term public school, sometimes applied to schools in membership of the Headmasters’ Conference (HMC), has long lost its historical significance—denoting a school open to pupils from the whole nation rather than just local children—and thus its usefulness.

II

Independent School Structures and Statistics

A notable characteristic of independent schools is their variety. They include some of the most famous schools in the world—Eton College, Harrow School, and Rugby School among them—and some of the oldest. The oldest schools in Britain, with years of foundation, are as follows: King’s School, Canterbury (597); King’s School, Rochester (604); St. Peter’s School, York (627); Wells Cathedral School (909); Warwick School (914); St. Alban’s School (948); King’s School, Ely (970); Salisbury Cathedral School (1091); The High School of Glasgow (1124); Dundee High School (1239); Abingdon School (1256); Ruthin School (1284); and Bablake School, Coventry (1344).

Independent schools range in size from a few dozen pupils to more than 2000, and may be day schools, boarding schools, or a mixture of both. Boarders form a declining proportion of pupils, however. In 1995, 18 percent were boarders, compared with 28 percent in 1982. Several factors are responsible for this trend: changing family patterns, cost (in 1995 the average boarding school fee was £10,200 annually, compared with £4400 for day pupils), and the rapid reduction of the armed services, many of whose personnel traditionally boarded their children at school. About two thirds of independent schools are coeducational, with the remainder split roughly equally between boys’ and girls’ schools.

---

---

Junior, or preparatory (“prep”), schools educate children up to the age of 11 or 13, senior schools generally to age 18. Many independent schools offer teaching at all ages, from 3 to 18. Most preparatory schools now have their own so-called pre-prep departments, covering the nursery and infant stages.

In 1994 there were more than 2400 independent schools in the United Kingdom, educating 587,000 children. In England this represented about 7.2 percent of the school-age population (with lower proportions in Scotland and Wales). Within England there are considerable variations by age and region. Whereas in London 10.3 percent of children attend an independent school, in the West Midlands the proportion is only 3.3 percent. At the primary stage, 5.4 percent of children are in independent schools; among students over 16 years of age, this rises to 19.1 percent.

Many independent schools have religious foundations. Of the many schools with strong Church of England connections, there are some 40 cathedral choir schools. More than 100 Roman Catholic schools exist, and there are also Methodist, United Reformed, and Quaker schools. Jewish and, of more recent foundation, Muslim schools are among other faiths represented.

Independent schools are not obliged to follow the national curriculum, but they prepare their students ultimately for the same public examinations. In England and Wales students are prepared for the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) at the age of 15 or 16 and for GCE Advanced Level at 18. That independent schools achieve high academic standards is not disputed. Of the 500 schools achieving the highest GCSE results in 1995, 374 were independent. What is disputed by some is the extent to which this academic success is entirely or largely the result of selective admission policies. Some independent schools admit only children of the highest academic ability; many, however, admit students with a much wider range of abilities.

III

Reasons for Choosing an Independent School

Above all, evidence of high standards of achievement attracts parents to independent schools. Surveys in 1989 and 1993 by Market & Opinion Research International (MORI) indicate that parents most frequently cite high standards as their reason for choosing an independent school, and that roughly one family in five chooses the independent sector because of specific dissatisfaction with state schools. Similar proportions of parents cite small classes and discipline as decisive factors in their choice. Socioeconomic analysis of these surveys shows that about half the children entering independent schools come from families where neither parent was educated at an independent school, with some 30 percent coming from the lower end of the economic scale.

Parents increasingly tend to use both independent and state sectors as they suit their children’s needs at particular stages in their schooling. Nearly half the children entering independent senior schools have been educated at state primary schools, while one in five of those leaving preparatory schools attend state schools. There is a similar crossover between sectors at the post-GCSE stage.

Given their complete dependence on fees, independent schools can only survive if parents are satisfied that they are receiving value for their money from the schools. Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, in spite of fees rising by around 10 percent each year, independent school numbers grew steadily. Between 1985 and 1991 pupil numbers in the independent sector grew by 8 percent. Since 1991, the effects of the worst post-war recession have cut numbers by about 3.5 percent, although by 1995 the number of day pupils was beginning to increase again.

The evident success and the social and economic prominence of many UK independent schools fuels a continuing debate about their position in society. Many parents and certain political parties believe that the state’s ability to provide high-quality education for all is compromised by the existence of a significant private alternative. The schools themselves argue that international conventions guarantee parental rights to an alternative to state education.

	More from Encarta
	•  Important Notice: MSN Encarta to be discontinued. Learn more. •  Presidential Myths Quiz •  Coffee break: Recharge your brain