Children of university-educated parents more likely to excel at school [Guardian.co.uk]
- Published: 26 April 2010
Being born to a parent with a university degree is more likely to guarantee a child top grades at school in England than in the US, Australia and Germany, a study has revealed.
Researchers found England was "significantly behind similar nations" in creating an equal chance of achieving high exam scores for pupils from the least well-educated homes compared with those from the most well-educated families.
A study of 16,000 14-year-olds, commissioned by the educational charity the Sutton Trust, found that in England, 56% of teenagers whose parents had degrees scored high enough grades to perform in the top quarter of their peer group. This was the case for just 9% of teenagers whose parents had left school without qualifications. The gap of 47 percentage points is more than twice Australia's (23 percentage points), and higher than Germany's and the US's (37 and 43 percentage points respectively).
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