ISC Chief Executive responds to Sunday Telegraph

22 February 2010

Sir

When Professor Steve Smith suggests that candidates from schools with low exam results should get university places over those from high performing independent schools he makes a serious mistake.  Modifiers that give extra weight to candidates from poorly performing schools breach the principles laid down by the Government sponsored Schwartz report which states that assessment methods should be ‘reliable and fair’.  They are not reliable as they depend on unreliable performance table data (which, for example, exclude IGCSEs) and they are not fair because they assess only school context, rather than the broader educational context that a student comes from (which may include, for example, the use of private tutors by maintained school pupils).    

We do not object to offers based on  an accurate assessment of  each student's circumstances,  as long as this information is not based on blanket modifiers on all pupils from certain types of school.   Independent schools enrol pupils from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds, for example by offering means-tested financial support. To discriminate by type of school risks discriminating against these children from families from disadvantaged backgrounds with no tradition of going to university in favour of maintained sector pupils with wealthier parents. 
 

David Lyscom
Chief Executive Officer, Independent Schools Council