According to research conducted by academics at University College London (UCL), young adults who went to state schools are just as happy with their lives as their privately-educated peers.
The study sought out differences in ‘mental health or life satisfaction’ – but researchers were surprised to find little changes between these two groups, as many expected the significant advantages in spending at private schools to lead to better wellbeing services and tailored support.
The paper’s lead author, Dr Morag Henderson of UCL’s social research institute, noted ‘although school resource is greater in private schools, the academic stress students face might be too and so we see each force cancelling the other out.’
Published in the Cambridge Journal of Education last week, the study is based on a survey of a sample of over 15,000 people from across the country born between 1989 and 1990, having attended school in England.
The researchers admitted that ‘these methods do not prove causality’, but pointed out that the lack of ‘significant positive effects’ for private schooled individuals compared to their state-educated peers indicates that ‘there is no evidence that parents who decided to pay for private schooling were gaining mental health and life satisfaction advantages for their children.’
‘There is no additional advantage of private schooling’
Participants were asked questions such as ‘have you been able to concentrate on what you are doing?’ and ‘have you been able to concentrate on what you are doing?’ to help the researchers measure differences in mental health and wellbeing.
However, few differences were found, even after adjustments were made to exclude the additional advantages private school students were likely to have, such as bigger houses and more disposable income.
The academics came to the conclusion, in the Guardian, ‘there is no additional advantage of private schooling with respect to mental health and life satisfaction’ – but it’s important to remember that this study was only examining a very specific cohort.
Although, he study does cautions readers that in recent years, private schools have significantly increased their funding of pastoral support – perhaps a sample group born between 2000 and 2001 might return different results.
Dr Henderson noted that a sample group of pupils at schools during the COVID-19 pandemic may return different results; ‘This is speculation but it might be that we see state school students fare worse in terms of mental health compared to private school students, post-lockdown.
‘This question is ripe for future analyses.’