Reform of the private schools

Reform of the private schools, as Kynaston and Green suggest, is indeed "long overdue", and some of their proposals, especially relating to taxing fees and reducing tax subsidies, are especially welcome (If private schools are the engines of privilege, isn`t reform long overdue, 13.01.19). It was strange though that they didn`t comment more on the fact that private schools are "working" the examination system, and suggest the probable reasons for it. Shouldn`t parents spending vast amounts of money on their children`s education be worried that most private schools are now opting for Cambridge Assessment`s IGCSE and Pre-U examinations, both allegedly easier, and both including coursework as an assessment option. Pre-U examinations are more lightly-regulated than their A-level counterparts, and have much higher percentages of A*-A grades. With all the resources at their disposal and "especially small class sizes", one would have thought good schools would relish the challenge of newly reformed, and more rigorous, examinations.

 The authors rightly recommend "contextual admissions to universities", but perhaps should have added that the only entry qualifications for our state-funded universities should be A-levels, described by Ofqual as "national qualifications based on content set by the government", which Pre-Us certainly are not, and BTEC`s vocational qualifications. This would have the effect of ensuring that the huge advantages privately educated pupils have over pupils from underfunded state schools do not extend to a different route to higher education. As "6% of the UK`s school population" attend independent schools, banning universities from having more than 6% of their undergraduate intake from the private sector does not seem unreasonable, either!