Wendy Exton
Private schools have long been part of our society but it is only recently that there has been talk by the Labour Party of these establishments being banned. Whilst I think it inappropriate that governments dictate how people should spend their money, we do have to ask why this has suddenly become high on the political agenda.
As a teacher of 25 years within the state sector, I have seen the gradual demise of state education in several ways. This concerns me greatly. The gap has dramatically widened between the private and state education system. State schools are currently underfunded resulting in scarce resources, the curriculum offer has been cut to the bone and the “extras” we used to have as an entitlement in our state schools have fallen by the wayside in order to save money. The rollout of academies has also allowed more funds to be “creamed off” in the direction of chief executive officers and leadership salaries, vanity projects and the use of solicitors and PR management to help run schools on a business model. All this has been encouraged by a Conservative government.
The school funding cuts and the lack of accountability of academy finances has made the gap between private and state schools even wider. Added to this the charitable status and tax breaks that the private sector receive, it is a truly unfair system. Why should the private sector receive these benefits? Rather than banning private schools, these benefits need to be removed and directed towards the state sector instead, thereby helping reduce the resources gap.
This “business model” drive in the state system has also helped prompt the removal of many traditional aspects of a state education, in my opinion. Many of these traditional aspects have been maintained by private schools and are promoted in the very literature they use to sell their schools.
Private schools often sell themselves as steeped in tradition, based in old buildings, some with Latin mottos and coats of arms. Yet the state system appears to have had many old school traditions removed, to be replaced by office-like school spaces, the introduction of CEOs and “efficiency drives”. It causes a difference in the appearance of the two sectors that clearly divides the state and the private school system, driving some parents away from the colder machinery of the state sector into the private sector and its comforting old-worldliness.
It is also no surprise that many politicians who were largely educated in the private sector have viewed state education in part as commodity to be handed over to the highest bidder with too little accountability for how finances are run, until its too late. The various academy trust failures, with their financial scandals, show the supposedly efficient business model has too often ended in tears.
I remember being educated in a very good state school in the 1980s. I enjoyed a good curriculum offer, musical instrument lessons which were free, adequate resources, and I could choose from many extra-curricular activities. Nowadays, many state school teachers are exhausted – tired and crushed under an excessive accountability regime, which means they no longer have the time or energy to undertake extracurricular activities too. It makes it easier for the private sector to recruit parents.
Worries about pupil behaviour is another reason many parents choose a private education. More than one in 8 state school teachers say there is a widespread problem of pupil behaviour in their school, rising to become their second biggest concern after workload (NASUWT The Big Survey 2019). Every meeting I attend, the state school teachers highlight a trend of poor pupil behaviour, continual disruption of lessons and in some cases even violent pupils.
It is not surprising therefore that as well as low funding and overstretched staff, pupil behaviour is another reason parents who can afford it abandon the state sector and go private.
On a positive note, I do not believe that private schools cream off the better staff. In my union capacity, I visit private schools. Whilst I am in awe of their state-of-the-art resources, grand buildings and sporting facilities I acknowledge that the pressures between myself as a state school teacher and a private school teacher are in some ways different but equally as demanding. In the state sector, we have lack of resources, poor behaviour and a crushing accountability regime. Meanwhile independent school teachers are subject to challenges such as extracurricular demands made of them, parents who presume paying for their child’s education means that they will automatically achieve good grades and uncertainties with their pension scheme. I always state when meeting with these colleagues that their jobs are equally as challenging but in a different way. For me, the quality of teaching is comparable in either sector except private school teachers have better resources and smaller class sizes.
As a trade unionist, I believe firmly in equality. I believe that every child is entitled to a good education. This should not be only available to those who can pay. It is unfair and divisive. It means that as a country we will always have a two-tier system.
I think the solution is to narrow the gap between the state and private school system which would offer better choice to parents. We need adequate funding for the state school systems and proper accountability for state school finances, while also getting poor behaviour under control for good. That, plus removing charitable status and imposing VAT, and directing this money towards the state sector, will help return more parents to the state system.
Wendy Exton is a secondary school teacher with 25 years’ experience. She is currently teaching in the state sector in the south west of England. Wendy is a national executive member of the trade union NASUWT.
