Record number of parents educating children privately
Wednesday, 30 April 2008
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Record numbers of parents have turned their backs on state education and chosen to pay up to £27,000 a year to send their child to a private school.
Despite Labour's school reforms and increasing investment in the state sector, almost 50,000 more children now attend fee-paying schools than in 1997, a census of private schooling revealed yesterday.
Figures from the Independent Schools Council (ISC) revealed that a record 511,677 pupils in 2007 – a 0.8 per cent rise and the biggest increase since 2003 – went to a private school, despite a long-term demographic decline in the number of children and a 6.2 per cent rise in average fees.
Concerns over state school class sizes, confusion about the introduction of the Government's new vocational diplomas and fears that sciences and foreign languages are being squeezed out of state schools were factors in parents' decisions to go private, leading independent school headteachers said.
The biggest rise was among the youngest children. A record 44,290 under-fives were in ISC schools last year – an increase of 5.6 per cent.
The figures coincided with the publication of government data showing that nearly 25,000 pupils aged six and seven in state schools are being taught in classes of more than 30, despite a 1997 manifesto pledge to outlaw large classes. Schools are allowed to exceed this target in certain circumstances, but the survey revealed that there are 200 classes which exceed it unlawfully – up from 130 last year.
Overall, class sizes remain the same as in 2007 in state primary schools at 26.2 – with infant classes rising from 25.6 to 25.7 and juniors falling from 27.2 to 27. Average state secondary class sizes have fallen from 21.2 to 20.9.
By contrast, the ISC census shows that the pupil to teacher ratio has fallen to its lowest level in private schools, with 9.6 pupils to every teacher.
Deborah Odysseas-Bailey, head teacher of Babington House School in Kent and president of the Independent Schools Association, said smaller class sizes were highly prized. "I do think parents are becoming more discerning," she said. "They will look at what we are providing and then make sacrifices in order to send their children to an independent school."
Sixth form numbers rose by 2.2 per cent to 81,938 in private schools despite fears that universities might discriminate against private school pupils and that the increase of tuition fees to £3,000 a year would see parents switch to the state sector.
Bernard Trafford, head of Wolverhampton Grammar School and chairman of the Head Masters and Mistresses Conference (HMC), which represents schools such as Eton, Winchester and Harrow, said parents were confused about vocational diplomas being introduced in state sixth forms from this September and looked to the private sector for "dependability".
The statistics published yesterday showed the number of pupils in state schools without English as a first language has risen to a record high of 14.4 per cent in primary schools and 10.8 per cent in secondary schools.
