イギリスのエリート大学進学に伴う格差について。ガーディアン紙より
数年前の記事ですが、気になったのでメモ。
記事: Third of Oxbridge come from 100 schools (20 September 2007)
One hundred schools, four-fifths from the private sector, account for nearly a third of all UK undergraduates starting at Oxford or Cambridge universities each year, according to research.
The study, published today, highlights how "a small cadre of elite 'feeder' schools" dominate Oxbridge admissions, and will raise fresh concerns that state schools are struggling to get their pupils into leading universities despite efforts to make Oxbridge more inclusive.
Only two state comprehensives make the list compiled by the Sutton Trust charity, which looked at where 1 million teenagers went to university over five years.
The results showed 30 schools, including two state grammars and one comprehensive, accounted for nearly one in six Oxbridge entrants.
Two hundred schools made up nearly half all Oxbridge entrants, while 3,500 other schools accounted for the remaining 52%. A similar pattern was detected with admissions to the 13 British universities at the top of league tables compiled by newspapers in recent years.
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The report said the proportion of university entrants going to Oxbridge from the top 30 fee-paying schools was nearly twice as high as that for the best 30 state grammars, despite similar average A-level scores.
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Fee-paying schools made up 7% of all schools, while accounting for 15% of A-level candidates, and state schools that did well were either academically selective or situated in middle-class areas. It recognised that many comprehensive pupils did not consider applying to top universities, while the separate Oxbridge admissions process sent the message that these universities were different.
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Oxford takes just less than 3,000 home undergraduates a year, 54% from state schools in 2006.
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Cambridge, where 56% of about 3,000 places went to state school pupils last year, said it already spent £3m a year on projects widening participation.
どうやらイギリスでは年間数百万円かかる私立高校（Fee-paying schools）に子どもを入れた場合の方が、授業料無料の公立高校に入れた場合に比べ、彼らがオックスフォード、ケンブリッジに進学する可能性が圧倒的に高まるようです。記事の最後の部分からは、わずか７％を占めるに過ぎない私立高校出身者がオックスブリッジへの入学者のほとんど半分を占めていることが分かります。日本でも親の経済力と子どもの教育機会との間に密接な相関関係があることが教育社会学の研究で実証されていますが、「子どもの高校授業料に毎年数百万円払えるかどうか」と「子どもを東大・京大に入れられるかどうか」がここまでダイレクトに繋がることはない気がします。イギリス人のコースメートに少し話を聞いたら、「オックスブリッジでは全国統一入学試験（A-Level）の他に独自の面接試験を設けていて、私立高校ではこの面接試験対策が重点的に行えるから（少人数指導が充実しているから）、必然的にオックスブリッジに入りやすくなる。またエリート同士のネットワークづくり、最難関大学進学のための情報交換、モチベーションの維持、どれをとっても私立高校に行った方が有利なんだ」との答えが返ってきました。現保守党政権でも閣僚の６割が私立学校出身で、実に７割がオックスブリッジ出身とのことです（動画：Does New Politics mean more male Oxbridge males?）。イギリスは日本に比べ、こうした点でまだまだ「階級」が目に見えやすい国であるように思います。
