From the BBC:
One in four pupils at independent schools in the UK is from a minority ethnic background, data suggests.
A census for the Independent Schools Council shows 74.5% of pupils (280,671) are from white British backgrounds and 25.5% (95,904) are from minorities*. The census also shows overseas pupils make up 5.2% (26,376) of the pupil population in its schools - 37% of these are from Hong Kong and China. This is a rise on 2011, when the census counted 24,554 non-British pupils.
The census for 2012 - completed by all 1,223 of the ISC's schools - does not detail whether pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds are British or foreign nationals. But if boarding pupils (who will account for many of the 26,376 overseas children) are removed, the proportion of minority pupils rises to 28.5%, suggesting the majority of these pupils are British nationals.
What puzzles me is that these two numbers do not add up to the total number of pupils at private schools, which is a smidge over half a million, as stated later on in the article.
Friday 27 April 2012
Non-white parents care about their children's education: shock
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2 comments:
OK, I looked up the figures and the 280+95K only covers schools in England. The 508K includes pupils at a few schools in Ireland as well as the rest of the UK.
There are 68476 boarding pupils. The 26376 refers to "Non-British pupils with parents living overseas", i.e. NEITHER British pupils with overseas parents NOR foreign pupils with parents in the UK.
Out of the 26376, about 10,000 are from countries with majority white populations. Coming from one of these schools myself, I can say that, at least 10-20 years ago, there were a lot of students who are white but with passports from "non-white" countries (e.g. Nigerian, Malaysian, Peruvian)
As for pupils from Hong Kong, about half of Hong Kong's population hold British Nationality (Overseas), but it does not say whether such pupils are counted as British or not. However, about 80% of BN(O)s didn't renew their passport and got HK passports instead, because 1) HK passports are a quarter of the price and 2) BN(O)s are basically useless and don't give you any rights in the UK (except a free student visa before 2010), and no need to pledge loyalty to QE2 when qualifying for full British citizenship (basically after paying UK taxes for 5-6 years).
J, thanks for looking that up properly.
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