Parents from the richest fifth of households are four times more likely to pay for extra classes outside school for their children than those in the poorest fifth of households, new analysis by the Sutton Trust reveals today.
The new analysis by the Trust of Office for National Statistics data shows children from the most advantaged households benefit from significantly more spending on extra-curricular activities and private tutoring than their poorer peers.
The data from the ONS’s UK Living Costs and Food Survey (LCFS) shows that 35% of households in the top fifth of incomes – those earning more than £52,000 a year – have paid fees for extra-curricular activities for their children in the past three months, compared with only 9% of households in the bottom fifth – where incomes are below £14,000 a year.
The analysis is part of a new Sutton Trust Research Brief, Extra-curricular inequalities, which also includes new polling data on private tuition and enrichment activities. The latest annual Sutton Trust/Ipsos MORI survey of 2,800 11-16 year-olds shows that 23% of young people nationally, and 37% in London, say that they have received private or home tuition. The national figure was 18% in 2005 and 24% in 2013.
On private tutoring, Extra-curricular Inequalities also reports that pupils at private schools are nearly twice as likely to get private tutoring as those from state schools (27% compared with 14%).
The brief also includes new Ipsos MORI polling of parents of children aged 5-16 in England showing that just over three quarters (76%) of parents across all social groups involved their children in some form of regular extra-curricular social activity over the last year. However, there were significant differences in participation between social groups.
Participation in extra-curricular activities is around 15 percentage points higher among parents in professional or administrative A, B, or C1 (84%) occupations than among those in manual or routine groups C2, D, or E (69%).
The Sutton Trust is urging that a proportion of the pupil premium should be used to provide vouchers to low income families to widen the range of extra-curricular options available to them.
The Trust’s sister charity, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is also trialling initiatives designed to offer extra tuition to disadvantaged pupils. For example, The Tutor Trust in Manchester trains undergraduates to provide pupils with individual and small group tuition in English, Maths, and Science. Schools pay for this tuition for their pupils at well below market rates, usually with Pupil Premium money, making the scheme more affordable for disadvantaged schools. The EEF’s evaluation of this project is due in 2015.
Conor Ryan, Director of Research at the Sutton Trust said;
“Inequalities in education don’t stop after the school bell has sounded. They extend to the range of private tuition and extra-curricular activities available to children whose parents can afford to pay for them. While many schools offer a range of sporting and other activities outside regular school hours, there is still a substantial advantage available to those who can afford it.
“If we are serious about improving social mobility we must narrow the gap in educational opportunities outside of school as well as within the classroom. Offering low-income families vouchers to spend on extra-curricular activities or private tuition would be a step towards this.”
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