Bright pupils from comprehensive schools are being put off applying to Oxford and Cambridge universities because of fears over “elitism”, the Sutton Trust researcher tells The Daily Telegraph.
Graeme Paton, The Daily Telegraph education editor wrote teachers often promote the view that Oxbridge universities are “not for the likes of us”.
The Sutton Trust charity said that pupils from comprehensive schools needed better guidance to help them apply to leading universities.
Lord Mandelson, Business Secretary last month also said more needed to be done to widen access to higher education, Graeme Paton wrote.
More than four in 10 students currently admitted to Oxbridge are from independent schools, though they only educate just seven per cent of children in the United Kingdom.
The Sutton Trust suggested that schools were the ones often to blame for creating “not for the likes of us” situation.
Dr Lee Elliot Major, the charity’s research director said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph that teachers often confused excellence with elitism.
“What we’ve found is that independent school pupils with similar grades to state school pupils are far more likely to apply to leading research universities,” he said.
“One of our concerns is that there is a confusion between excellence and elitism in many state schools – that often the prestigious universities are perceived to be “not for the likes of us”.
The government is now considering introducing new guidance urging universities to give pupils from poor families a two-grade “head start” in the admissions process.
The Sutton Trust is due to publish research later this week which will demand an overhaul of careers advice in schools, said The Daily Telegraph.
Dr Elliot Major said around half the guidance pupils currently received in comprehensive schools was poor, “We’re also concerned about teachers – that half of comprehensive school pupils, even if they had the brightest pupils in their class, they wouldn’t advise them to consider Oxbridge.”
No comments:
Post a Comment