Education Secretary: Top universities shouldn’t ’tilt the system’ in favour of state school kids

The Education Secretary has defended the UK’s private school system, stating that we should be “very proud” of it and said top universities should not “tilt the system” to benefit state school students.

Nadhim Zahawi hit out against suggestions that Oxbridge should accept more state educated children, suggesting this shouldn’t come at the cost of people “who are performing” at some of the UK’s top schools.

It comes after Cambridge University vice-chancellor Professor Stephen Toope told private schools that they should expect fewer students to get into Oxford or Cambridge in the future.

Zahawi told The Times that the focus of government should be on boosting the quality of state education rather than minimising the number of private school students getting into elite universities.

The Education Secretary told the paper: “I think it should be based on merit and evidence”.

“You don’t create a system that people feel is fair and equitable by in some way thinking that there is an easy fix. The best thing you can do is create schools in the state system that are as good as independent schools. Which we are.

“I need to continue my journey to deliver more outstanding and high performing schools. That’s the right strategy. Not to say actually, let me just accept that we’re not going to produce outstanding schools so let me just tilt the system away from children who are performing”, he added.

Cambridge academic Professor David Abulafia also hit out against the supposed tilt towards state schools, suggesting to The Times that white, privately educated boys are the new disadvantaged when it comes to university admissions.

However, the comments have caused backlash on Twitter and beyond.

Labour MP for Nottingham South Lilian Greenwood hit out against Zawahi’s comments. She tweeted: “Privately-educated Minister, who sent his kids to private schools, opposes action to ensure bright state-educated young people get a fair crack at getting into top universities. Who’d have thought it?”

Zahawi attended the elite King’s College School in Wimbledon and also sent his children there, stating that it was “right decision” for his family.

Fees for the south London school are above £8000 a term once the child hits 14 years old.

Last September, Cambridge University’s private school intake hit 28 per cent compared to the seven per cent of children who are privately educated in the UK.

While this figure was an improvement from the 29.4 per cent private school intake in 2020 and 31.3 per cent in 2019, the figure falls short of the unofficial benchmark set by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, which was 24 per cent for Cambridge and 24.5 per cent for Oxford in 2020.