Daily summary of the latest news and opinions from the world of independent education brought to you by Education Advisers...  

Employers should offer jobs to alumni of underperforming state schools over public school graduates, suggests Justine Greening

Where employers have job candidates with identical grades, those from Eton are 'probably not as impressive' as those from other schools, says former education secretary.

Companies should offer a job opportunity to a candidate from an under-performing school before an Old Etonian with the same grades, because the former is likely to be more “impressive”, Justine Greening has suggested.

The former education secretary urged companies to play their part in boosting social mobility by using “contextual recruitment”, which takes into account the context in which someone’s academic results are achieved.

Julie Robinson, general secretary of the Independent Schools Council, which represents over 1,200 private schools, told Tes: “It is important to understand that school type is not of itself an indicator of socio-economic advantage.

"For example, many pupils attending independent schools receive means-tested bursaries.

“Therefore, wherever ‘contextual recruitment’ is used, the process must take a range of factors into account in order to recruit the best person for the job.”

Read more: https://www.tes.com/news/exclusive-employers-should-discriminate-against-etonians-greening-suggests

Charity reveals plans for 1,000 disadvantaged pupils to attend private and state boarding schools for free by 2024.

One thousand children from disadvantaged backgrounds will attend boarding school for free by 2023 under plans revealed by a charity today.

The number represents a doubling of pupils receiving bursaries from the Royal National Children’s SpringBoard Foundation to attend state and independent boarding schools.

Ian Davenport, chief executive of Royal SpringBoard, is set to announce the new target at the Boarding Schools' Association (BSA) conference, starting tomorrow, in Brighton.

He is due to tell headteachers: “We believe we can help increase social mobility through widening access to boarding education and we encourage our pupils to spread the benefit they have enjoyed, by passing on their experiences and raising aspirations within their home communities.”

Independent research published by the National Foundation for Educational Research in January found that the programme transformed pupils' lives for the better.

Martin Reader, BSA chairman, said today: “We want to offer life-transforming opportunities to disadvantaged children and children who might otherwise be in care, as well as making our boarding communities more diverse and representative of the world around them.

“In boarding, we really have the time to transform lives. A boarding education offers time to really spend with the children. Boarding offers stability and a high level of pastoral care, as well as a huge array of arts, drama and sports opportunities after the school day is over.”

Read more: https://www.tes.com/news/exclusive-doubling-boarding-school-bursaries-disadvantaged-pupils