More children got three As at A-level in the country’s fee-paying schools than in the entire population of children at comprehensives."

[AubergineKenobi]

Says Toby Young in today's Telegraph:

Article

Does anyone know what percent of A-levels are taken by children in fee-paying schools?

Doesn't surprise me really. A lot are selective therefore can take on the high achieving students.

Middle and high achievers, autonomy over what and how subjects are taught, minimal interference from the government, focus on learning and achievement, far less catering for any sort of sn, no need to be socially inclusive and you can get rid of students you don't want with much less fuss.
I don't know the percentages, but I am unsurprised by the statement.

A bit of googling suggests that 7% of children go to fee paying schools.

Not a surprise. Fee paying schools which didn't manage to get these results would have gone out of business a long time ago!

Hmm, my immediate thought was 'there are lies, damn lies and statistics'. Reading the arrticle reinforces this view. The actual quotation is " If you remove grammars from the equation, more children got three As at A-level in the country?s tiny handful of fee-paying schools than in the entire population of children at comprehensives." (Love the hyperbolic adjectives!)
Not quite so surprising now.

What results would comps get with equivalent per pupil funding?

Also aubergine the "7% of children go to fee paying schools" is the average across all age groups. When you look at figures for sixth form only, it increases (to something like 16 or 17%, if I believe an old MN thread).

Julia
not much more than they do now.
Only those of an academic/sciences bent will attempt Chemistry A level.

At my kids comp
1/3 will effectively leave education at 16 to work in trades and farming
1/3 will leave at 18 to work in offices retail and service industries
1/3 will go on to universities
of those maybe 1/5 will be doing degrees that might need Chemistry

so out of the 300 in the year group, only 20 might do Chemistry at A level.

Private schools tend to only include the upper third of pupils so will have a potential Chemistry ratio three times higher

or to put it another way.
NON STORY Mr Toby Young.

That is a really interesting article. The questions - to my mind - are:

1. How can we ensure that students at state schools have access to the kind of teaching/circumstances that will enable them to be equally successful at A-level?

Re-intepreting the quote from John Prescott: ?If you set up a school and it becomes a good school .... everyone wants to go there,? - it is good news if everyone wants to go to a good school!

1. Until that time, what can university admissions people do to properly evaluate candidates that are equally able but are less well prepared?

There was another article about students from comprehensives doing better than students from independend schools with equivalent A-level grades once they get to university.

Trix I used to compile that tyype of research at a uni; non-standard entrants (mature; access courses; etc) always did better (on average) than kids from 'good' schools with good A levels

I'm guessing the figures only take into account the students who take their A levels while at a comprehensive and so ignore the huge number of children who do very well at 11-16 comprehensives and go on to get 3 As at Sixth Form/FE college.

I think the percentage of privately educated students in sixth form is much higher than 7%. ISTR a figure closer to 20%, but that is for many years ago.

From Julia: "non-standard entrants (mature; access courses; etc) always did better (on average) than kids from 'good' schools with good A levels"

That is interesting too, and I didn't know that. It suggests that good schools help students to get good qualifications (which is good); but that ability and motivation are what matter most once they get to university, in addition to what has been learned.

David
Do you have a link for that?

as round here a lot of kids do private to 16 and then go to Peter Symonds
as against a few who do state to 16 and then go to KES

Here you go:

www.isc.co.uk/FactsFigures_PupilNumbers.htm

David
do you have a data set that is independent of the providers and more than 80% complete (as per their own info)
where do they get those percentages from?

TP, you might find this data on subject choice interesting:

www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jun/15/a-level-subjects-preferred-by-universities-by-private-school-and-comprehensive

But Trix isn't there also a 3) which is the elephant in the room

• Is it reasonable to expect universities to compensate for the educational inadequacies of the "less prepared but equally able"?

I'm not sure I buy the selective/non-selective thing. Surely there are a lot of non-selective private schools, unless we're assuming that all children from affluent homes are bright.

Actually, I can believe the 18% of sixth formers, because pupils in private schools are far less likely to leave school at 16.

but almost NO children leave education at 16 - they are at "college" unless expelled
they get no benefits and jobs are few and far between so they stay in college

agreed that private schools EXPECT their kids to do A levels
and even the non selective ones can throw resources at thick kids
or in the case of a red haired prince, darn near do his course work for him

There's a rather long report by Cambridge Assessment that gives numbers and percentages by type of school for various subjects - and also figures for A grades.

Lily
I'm in heaven! LOTS AND LOTS of Numbers!

I'm glad I've made someone happy today, TalkinPeace2!

RealLife, I don't think universities should "compensate for the educational inadequacies", but should seek to evaluate potential in their admissions procedures. High grades will certainly be one element of an evaluation - that shows a willingness to work, and evidence of having learned something. But maybe that is not the only thing universities should look at - ability and attitude matter a lot too!

Not all independent schools are super-selective - some offer extra help for those that need it, compared with state provision :) A-levels can still be hard, though, for some children.