Independent Schools

Private-sector education is based originally on boys' schools founded by public-spirited men of substance in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They were called 'public schools' to distinguish them from small private schools run by individuals. Many others were added later, together with a whole range of girls' schools, mainly around 1840 and after. The term 'public school' has now become obviously absurd and its meaning is uncertain. For statistical purposes it applies to all the schools which are members of the Headmasters' Conference (HMC), of which there are about 250, all with strong sixth forms for pupils aged between sixteen and eighteen. But it is often used more broadly, or more narrowly to refer to the boarding (residential) schools in the HMC.

Until about 1970 nearly all the private-sector schools were for boys or girls only. However, since then some of the former boys' schools have begun to take in girls as well, some only at sixth-form level, some at all ages, and more than half now take girls. Meanwhile, the girls' schools continue without boys, but are losing many of their best potential pupils to the former boys-only schools. There is a girls' schools association which is equivalent to the HMC, but in 1989 almost a tenth of the girls-only schools had headmasters, while not one of the former boys' (now coeducational) schools belonging to the HMC had a headmistress.

Most schools give scholarships for special merit to some of their pupils, with a reduction of fees depending partly on the parents' means. More than a tenth of all pupils in these schools as a whole have scholarships of this kind, and a somewhat smaller number now have help with their fees from the Government's assisted-places scheme.

The private sector has two parts which are more or less distinct, though the borderline is not clear. Some schools, mostly in towns, are wholly or mainly for day pupils. Most of these are for children aged 11-18, like the state secondary schools. Most of their pupils come to them aged eleven from state primary schools, on the basis of selective and competitive examinations, though some schools have their own primary sections attached to them, from which eleven-year-olds may move up if they are academically good enough. Most of these schools received direct grants from the government for some decades before 1976, but have now become wholly independent.

The independent day schools in big towns have much in common with the old principal lycees and Gymnasiums or equivalent in Western Europe, though that resemblance has been reduced by the ending of the direct-grant system in 1976. Some of them, such as Manchester Grammar School (founded in 1515) and Bristol Grammar School (1532), and several of those in London, have great reputations for academic excellence, and are seen as much-respected civic institutions.

The major boarding schools, or 'public schools' in the narrow sense, are peculiar to Britain, and especially to the southern half of England, where most of them are situated. More than any other part of the educational system, they distinguish Britain from other countries. About 100 are mainly residential ('boarding') schools, though many of these take day pupils too. These are mainly for children aged 13-18, and receive thirteen year olds on the basis of entrance examinations, partly from their own attached junior schools, partly from quite small private 'preparatory' ('prep') schools for children aged 7-13, partly from state schools.

Although few parents send their children to them for religious reasons, these schools have their own substantial chapels, where their chaplains or headmasters conduct services according to the prescriptions of the foundation. Some are Catholic, but most are Church of England. Around 1900 many headmasters were clergymen, and some of them went on to become bishops; but this is so no more. The chapels, with their choirs, have always provided a stimulus for development of musical appreciation.

Over the past 100 years the inner group of about 100 mainly boarding schools has had a profound effect on English social attitudes. By their nature and existence they have emphasised a sense of class division. Although less then 2 per cent of all men have been educated in such schools, these include most high court judges, directors of banks and insurance companies and Conservative MPs. Contacts made at school may open the way to good jobs - though less so now than in the past. One of these schools, Eton, is perhaps better known by name outside its own country than any other school in the world. It was founded by King Henry VI in 1440, across the Thames from Windsor Castle. More than half of all peers who have inherited their titles are old Etonians, and in 1963 Sir Alec Douglas-Home was not only the third Etonian prime minister in succession but also the eighteenth out of the thirty-six in 200 years. Yet only one man out of 1,500 was a pupil there. It is like the other public schools in many ways, but has its special customs. Boys still dress every day for class in morning suits, as though for a wedding.

Most boarding public schools are in small towns or villages within about 250 kilometres of London, and have about 700 pupils. They flourished and expanded during the last century of the British Empire. They have been much concerned to develop in their pupils a strong sense of duty, obedience combined with ability to exercise authority, and a habit of suppressing private feelings. Loyalty to a group has been encouraged by the system under which a school of 700 boys would be divided into about ten 'houses', with selected older boys as prefects (or monitors, or praeposters: each school has its private language). Until quite recently the prefects imposed a strict discipline, often with brutal punishments. Good cricket and rugby football players won great prestige.

The prefects still survive, but the old brutality does not. The houses have fewer silly rules, and give pupils more scope to follow their own interests and more privacy. The schools have shown skill in adapting themselves to new values, with more attention to music and the arts as well as academic work as distinct from team games. Many of their teachers, who are mostly male and called 'masters', stay at the same school all through their working lives, and do not count their hours of work.

The normal fees for two children would be more than a senior teacher's total earnings. Yet the schools are full, with pupils' fees paid partly by grandparents, or from savings or long-term insurance policies. Inevi­tably, they are reserved mainly for the well-to-do, including many pupils sent to them from overseas. Objectively, these schools probably have more merit now than fifty years ago, but they are still the object of some egalitarian resentment. The schools have small classes and high standards. Egalitarians do not like them, and at one time hoped that they would lose pupils until one by one they would join the state system or collapse. Indeed, some of their pupils and former pupils feel embarrassed by their privileged education. But in the 1980s most independent schools of all types have had more applicants for admission than before. They have been helped by the poor reputation of the state comprehensive schools, and by the huge growth in the incomes of the highly-paid people, along with the huge cuts in the top rates of income tax.

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