One thing that my two decades of experience in education has taught me is exactly how vital it is for the state and private sectors to work together for the benefit of education as a whole.
The strange barriers that have been erected between the sectors out of convenient potshots and continual images of tailcoats and boaters must be broken down if we are to move forward. This is not an optional extra should we fancy it. It is vital for those who care about education in this country.
In an age where we all aim to support upward social mobility, it is especially important for us to support parents who might like to send their children to independent schools through bursary assistance. Such aspirations will be suppressed if they perceive independent schools to be culturally closed to them or stigmatised.
The publication of the Independent Schools Council (ISC) manifesto today, promoting the idea of breaking down barriers between the sectors, prompts me to reflect on my years as a prep school head. During this time, my school launched a bursary foundation enabling a few children to attend the school without paying any fees. There were very few applications. It seemed to us at the time that those families who could have qualified were put off by an assumption that our school was simply not for them, and that idea still saddens me to this day.
When I first invited a group of local primary school heads to come to my prep school for tea, only two came and another was quick to tell me that he had no intention of “being seen to take crumbs from the rich man’s table”. This is a depressing indictment of how the private sector is viewed, and it brought what could have been very much a two-way collaborative adventure to an abrupt halt. To me, it showed that some will always be more comfortable putting politics before education.
Happily, the school has grown its bursary scheme and it continues to support children of aspirational parents who see beyond the conveniently elitist closed-shop portrayal of the sector. These parents see the real tangible benefits such an education offers.
Lord Nash’s funding for independent/state school partnerships this year will enable 18 projects to support more than 100 schools. My old school is at the forefront of this link between independent and maintained sector schools. But it has been a long road to achieve the positive community links that now exist.
Children are children – regardless of their means – teachers are teachers with much to learn from each other, and all schools have expertise that is put to better use when shared. Collaborative projects should never be one-way and primary schools simply would not tolerate being patronised. And rightly so.
In the current climate, independent schools tend to get lumped in with the political elite, with the expectation that we should feel ashamed of what we do. Those who pay for medical care are not criticised for saving the NHS money, so why should those who pay school fees suffer for their positive choice, saving the treasury billions?
Education is an easy target but we know that what we want is the best for all children in all schools. Our pride in delivering excellent education should not be undermined by embarrassment and we will continue to fight for the right to share with – and learn from – the state sector.
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Julie Robinson was the headteacher of Vinehall school for 11 years. She is currently director of education at the Independent Association of Prep Schools (IAPS) and is soon to take up the post of general secretary of the Independent Schools Council (ISC).
