From assisted places to free schools: subsidizing private schools for the Northern English middle classes

Abstract

This paper examines how the English educational state has consistently acted to support private schooling in areas where fee-paying schools would be otherwise financially unviable. Educational data on private school participation since the 2008 financial crisis reveals the stark regional divides between London and the South-East of England and the rest of the country. This analysis of contemporary trends is framed within a historical understanding of the spatial dualism of the English middle class in relation to education. The paper traces the policy lineages of the spatial logic of state subsidies for elite models of schooling in northern England, noting the continuity between Direct Grant grammar schools, the Assisted Places scheme and the recent conversion of private schools into state-funded academy or free schools. A review of applications from private schools to become free schools highlights, how differentiated local class structures affect the viability of elite education without state support.

Keywords:

• Private schools
• free schools
• elite education
• middle classes
• North South divide
• geography of education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council [10.13039/501100000269, ES/N002121/1] and 3 PhD scholarship.