Graeme Paton quotes the Sutton Trust in The Daily Telegraph on the funding gap between state and private sixth forms.

Teenagers from state schools and colleges are claiming fewer places at top universities because of chronic under-funding of post-16 education, according to a report.

Sixth-formers are less likely to get into sought-after institutions than their privately-educated peers following an eight per cent decline in cash for 16- to 18-year-olds in recent years, it was claimed.

Figures show almost two-thirds of students from the independent sector gained places at Britain’s leading universities compared with fewer than a quarter of those from the state system.

An analysis by the Association of College warned that the gulf in university access between the two sectors can be directly linked to a funding “chasm”…..

…James Turner, director of programmes at the Sutton Trust charity, said: “We are very concerned about the impact on social mobility of the increasing disparity in spending on privately educated and state funded sixth formers.

“This report shows that, on average, private sixth forms spend nearly three times as much as state providers on each student. Furthermore, private schools are increasing spending on sixth formers whilst state funding is frozen, which means this gap is set to widen even further.”

Read the full article here

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