Just 7% of Brits are privately educated yet 74% of the new cabinet are privately educated. A two-tier education system creates a two-tier society. We'll hear a lot about diversity over the coming few days but diversity which doesn't account for social class is meaningless
Cabinet breakdown by schooling:
Comprehensive: 5
Grammar: 3
Private: 23
Comprehensive: 5
Grammar: 3
Private: 23
According to a study in the British Journal of Sociology of Education, private schools are estimated to benefit from tax exemptions to the tune of Β£3 billion a year. That's the equivalent of more than 6% of Englandβs total state school budget (2020-21).
Private schools maintain their 'charitable' status and remain exempt from VAT and business rates. Those who defend private schools point to bursaries however school census data shows that most of the pupils on bursaries do not come from poor households.
theguardian.com
theguardian.com
The gap between private-school fees and state-school per-pupil spending in England has more than doubled over the past decade according to research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
An interesting graph demonstrating just how socially exclusive so many professions are in the UK, from the book 'The Class Ceiling'. We cannot ignore the British class divide.
Wrote about this in more detail for @BylineTimes π
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