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Researchers at the Institute of Education at University College London have conducted a study that looks at whether there are any educational advantages to attending private schools in the upper secondary years (Years 12 and 13/Grades 11 and 12).

Published in the Oxford Review of Education, the study used data from the Centre for Longitudinal Studies' Next Steps cohort study and linked this to national student achievement information between 2005 and 2009. The researchers followed a sample of 5,852 students who attended a private or state school while doing their A levels (high-stakes exams taken at the end of Year 13, and important for university admission).

With approximately three times the resources per pupil in private compared with state schools, Britain’s private sector presents an interesting case of what could be expected from schools that are extremely well resourced. This paper studies the links between private schooling and educational performance in upper secondary school, as measured through their performance in ‘A level’, the main school-leaving assessment which determines access to universities.

Using an English longitudinal study, the authors find evidence that, compared with otherwise observably similar state school students in upper secondary education and controlling for prior attainment, those at private school study more ‘facilitating’ subjects, which are known to be favoured by high-status universities; they are placed 8 percentage points higher in the A level rankings and 11 percentage points higher in the rankings for ‘facilitating’ A levels.

They also find evidence of a private school advantage for participating in undergraduate study, net of socioeconomic status, subjects selected and number of A levels but there is no private school advantage for attending an elite university, controlling for the same characteristics. Taken together with other studies, our findings mean that private schooling in England is associated with cumulative moderate advantages at every stage of education.