Elite English private schools and inequalities in university access

[dullhunk]

This is part of the following UoM Schemes Student Experience Internships (SEI) - Summer 2025

Overview of internship:

There are large inequalities between private and state education in the UK. Education spend per pupil in private schools is around three times the level of state schools. This contributes to a range of inequalities, including substantial gaps in access to university. For example, attending a private school is associated with a 10-percentage point increased probability of gaining a place at an elite university (Henderson et al, 2020).

While a considerable body of research has explored inequalities in university access between the private and state sector, few studies have adopted a school-level lens. In other words, while we know the average gap in university access between the private and state sectors, we know less about how this varies from school to school. It is possible that some elite private schools have levels of university access that far exceed the average for all private schools—and, if this is the case, then current statistics underestimate the inequalities that arise from elite private education.

This project will investigate rates of university access for those attending elite private schools. This will enable an assessment of whether elite private schools tend to have greater access to university, compared with both the average for the private sector, as well as the state sector. This will provide a more nuanced picture of inequalities in university access by the type of school one attends

Given extensive media discussion around the Labour Party’s removal of some tax breaks from private schools, this research represents a timely opportunity to contribute evidence in this area.

Key aims, objectives and duties:

• To create a comprehensive dataset of university destinations for individual elite private schools, with a focus on HMC member schools.
• To analyse the nature and prevalence of university destinations for elite private schools.
• To contribute as an author to a written report that explains the main findings (likely to be published by Private Education Policy Forum).

Project design (Weeks 1-2): the research intern will work with Tom Fryer and Kathryn Telling to adapt and refine the original research plan. This will be possible at the start of the project, as well as during a reflective session after an initial period of data collection.

Desk-based research (Weeks 1-4): to create a dataset of university destinations of elite British private schools (Weeks 1-4). This will involve collating information from school websites. There is also the option use Freedom of Information requests to a small selection of universities.

Data analysis (Weeks 5-6): assessing the university destinations across the private sector. The majority of the analysis will involve descriptive statistics (frequencies, averages), which will not require advanced quantitative analysis skills. Depending on the specific nature of the dataset, and the skills of the research intern, there may be an opportunity for more complex statistical analyses.

Report writing (Weeks 7-8): the project will culminate in a written report, published with Private Education Policy Forum. Alongside Tom and Kathryn, the research intern will contribute to the planning, writing and editing of the report.

Dissemination (Week 8): the research intern will support dissemination of the research findings. This is likely to include working with experts at Private Education Policy Forum to write a press release and any other relevant briefings. There may also be opportunities to contribute to other dissemination outputs, such as blogs.

An indicative timeline is provided below:

• Week 1 – Project design and background reading
• Week 2 – Reflection and data collection
• Week 3 – Data collection
• Week 4 – Data collection
• Week 5 – Data analysis
• Week 6 – Data analysis
• Week 7 – Report writing
• Week 8 – Report writing and dissemination

As an equal opportunities employer, the university welcomes applications from all suitably qualified persons and all appointments will be made on merit. We particularly welcome applications from groups under-represented in Higher Education. For further information please see The University of Manchester's Widening Participation page.

Qualifications

To apply you must be a penultimate year undergraduate, i.e. in your second year of a three year course or your third year of a four year course.

Please note, this internship would particularly suit students from the following Departments/Schools:

• Alliance Manchester Business School
• School of Arts, Languages and Cultures
• School of Environment, Education and Development
• School of Social Sciences