Business

Report reveals impact of “network advantage” at private schools in the UK

The report has become from Leeds-born Zero Gravity, a social mobility start-up.

Sophie Smith - 11th October 2022

Those at a private school are twice as likely to have been encouraged to apply to a Russell Group university compared to state school students.

A new report from social mobility group Zero Gravity, has found that there's far more than meets the eye in the difference between state and private schools.

After an interactive art piece hinting at the report's findings in Leeds last week, the report is finally ready to go public.

art that makes it look like there's a hole in the ground outside WH Smith. — Mind The Education Gap was installed on Lands Lane in Leeds city centre last week. / Image: The Hoot Leeds

The study has found that, "in line with popular belief, the power of networks often starts at home", finding that almost two thirds of students from middle class backgrounds (64%) believe their family has the knowledge to assist them with their university application, whereas 43% of those from working class backgrounds had the same opinion.

One important finding is the knowledge to help with a university application gap narrows to 8% when comparing state educated with private school students, which the reports explains as a suggestion "that the affluence of family members is more important in driving perceptions of direct family support than school type".

The study also found that networking was significantly different, depending on what school students attended. Compared to state school students, private school students are:

More than twice as likely to know an accountant (7% v 16%)
Twice as likely to know a doctor (13% v 25%)
Four times as likely to know a lawyer (8% v 36%)
Seven times as likely to know a banker (2% v 14%)
Seven times as likely to know a politician (2% v 14%)

Students at private schools are also 24% more likely to imagine themselves attending a Russell Group university and 59% of state educated students worry they wouldn’t have the same economic support as others at university, compared to 6% of privately educated pupils, according to the Zero Gravity report.

Joe Seddon, Founder and CEO of Zero Gravity issued the report after being inspired by his own experience of transitioning from a state school to applying and attending the University of Oxford.

"It may surprise some fee-paying parents that the level of in-school support with university applications reported by state school pupils is mostly in line with that received at private schools (see below). Beyond a handful of aberrations, state school pupils are receiving on average no less contact time than their fee-paying peers. " - Zero Gap Report

Determined to ensure social mobility doesn't reflect on other students, Joe founded Zero Gravity, a mentoring platform that has aided over 3000 students from low-income backgrounds in their university application process and beyond, stating: "we’re now mentoring these students into the UK’s leading graduate employers across finance, law, professional services, and technology - ensuring our members are defined by their potential, not by a postcode lottery."

After conducting its own report, the company can reveal that access to a professional network is a strong predictor of a student’s likelihood to apply and win a place at elite universities.

"Talent is spread evenly, but opportunity is not." Joe explains in the Foreword of the report.

"This fact of life is so embarrassingly obvious that it often goes unsaid. However, things don’t have to be this way. Western societies have evolved dramatically over the past two centuries to spread opportunities more widely and open access to elite institutions."

University of Leeds. / Image: Korng Sok, Unsplash

The study concludes that "until access to a professional network is no longer determined by birth, geography or education, the link between background and opportunity will not be broken [...] but the way things are is not the way things have to be."

Zero Gravity is just one example of a social-led enterprise that's striving to close the gap of networking, knowledge and expectation between state and private schools.

So far this year, 78% of Zero Gravity students have won a place at their first-choice university, so that "both talent and opportunity can be evenly spread."

The platform is free to use and can be accessed on the Zero Gravity website.

Feature Image- Unsplash