Most of us in education can reel off a long list of private schools which have closed or otherwise gone bust in recent years. The planned closure, announced last week, of the much-loved Old Palace School in Croydon is but the latest example.
As someone who has co-founded an independent school, I know only too well the challenges of putting bums on seats; but it is an uncomfortable truth that all independent schools have precisely the number of pupils (and thus the cashflow) that they deserve.
Involving, as it does, large sums of money and the buyer’s child, a private school is the ultimate commercial transaction between buyer and supplier. Failure by a private school to be credible and responsive in the marketplace will always result in a fall in numbers, and then closure.
“A private school is the ultimate commercial transaction between buyer and supplier.”
This is because, despite all the phenomenal heart-warming work that takes place in many independent schools – the personalised attention, the specialist tuition, the broad range of cultural, artistic and sporting activities offered, these schools remain au fond a business. A well-led school will, and does, make money – which in not-for-profits is reinvested or channelled into bursaries. In other cases, a large well-run school, with a financial director’s relentless focus on EBITDA, pensions, and salary costs, makes a healthy return for the proprietor.
The story is markedly different for smaller, standalone schools without economies of scale; these smaller schools are mostly run by wonderful educators who make a life-changing difference to children’s lives. But these schools need also a tough business mind at the helm if they are to survive in the future.
Ultimately the market will make a judgement about each school – and this is why heads today need to be not only formidable educators, but also skilled listeners and deft readers of the market. For example, single sex education is no longer an automatic choice for many parents. And many a local prep school has seen a collapse of their Year 7 and Year 8 classes where senior schools have opened up entry at 11+ rather than the traditional 13+.
“Smaller schools need a tough business mind at the helm if they are to survive.”
Independent schools need, more than ever, to think about themselves as businesses, where possible maximising income through hosting events and weddings and the like. Those schools with big brand names can take this a whole step further, by either opening branches themselves overseas, or else licensing their prestigious name to school operators abroad.
The income from these overseas schools can then make its way back to the mothership to support bursaries for able students otherwise unable to afford the fees. How ironic that, whilst independent education remains a controversial aspect of British society (the privilege of the 7 per cent few), British education is one of our most successful exports to the rest of the world.
It is against this landscape that Labour’s proposal of VAT on fees appears a rather obvious grab for votes rather than the result of any detailed study or consultation. VAT on fees is an issue that is raised every decade or so but this time by a party that could conceivably form a government.
Labour is right to raise the question of fairness and of access to high quality education in both the state and independent sectors. But the “four legs good, two legs bad” approach fails to take into account the full complexity of our school system.
“Define the vision – and then work backwards with a plan to get there.”
The only way I see forward is for the UK to bring together its leading educationalists, sociologists and researchers (ie people who know what they are talking about) with a cross-party selection of informed MPs to ask the question, “What do we want our UK education system (and thus British society) to look like in 50 years’ time?”.
That is what should be in the manifesto of both parties. Define the vision – and then work backwards with a plan to get there. We will never make progress towards a world-class education system for all with governments of one, two or even three terms.
In short, no single government can fix this – only a thinktank (or Royal Commission, call it what you will) which will then make recommendations to both parties.