Are private schools losing their grip on the British elite? – podcast
Wednesday 8th January 2025
Professor of sociology Sam Friedman charts the enduring influence of private schools in the making of the British elite and asks whether the Labour government is looking finally to curtail it
The current Labour cabinet has been described as the most state-educated in British history: it’s not just Keir Starmer who went to a grammar school, all four holders of the great offices of state were state-educated.
It is, as LSE professor of sociology Sam Friedman explains, a marked departure from governments of the past – traditionally dominated not only by old public school boys, but by alumni of an even more exclusive circle. Two-thirds of the country’s prime ministers have come from so-called Clarendon schools – a group of nine of the most elite, prestigious, and expensive private boys’ schools in the country.
Continue reading...Read full story.Taken from the RSS feed at https://www.theguardian.com/education/rss
