Stop Profiling Children Based on School Labels

No child should be charged more or excluded from educational arts and cultural opportunities because of the school they attend.

But this happens more often than many people realise.

These policies are driven by simplistic assumptions attached to school-type labels.

MORE AFIS INFO HERE

 

Here’s the problem

School trips, workshops, outreach initiatives and educational programmes in arts and cultural institutions are meant to broaden horizons and inspire young people.

But in some cases, the price a school group is charged (and therefore what families are asked to pay) or whether children can access a programme at all, depends on the type of school they attend.

Across the UK, children are increasingly being treated differently based on assumptions linked to the type of school they attend.

This includes:

• differential pricing for educational visits and workshops
• restricted access to arts and outreach programmes
• and, in some cases, exclusion from opportunities based on school background

These decisions are often well-intentioned and linked to efforts to widen participation and improve social mobility.

However, using state and independent school labels as proxies for advantage or disadvantage is a blunt, imprecise and unreliable approach.

 

It risks:

• reinforcing stereotypes
• creating stigma and division
• misdirecting support
• overlooking the real complexity of children’s circumstances

No child should be judged or categorised based on simplistic assumptions about the school they attend.

more info HERE

 

Why this matters

Public debate often assumes that all independent school families are affluent and advantaged.

The reality is far more complex.

Many families make significant financial sacrifices or rely on bursaries and scholarships. At the same time, many high-income families are represented within the state sector.

Research from the Association for Families of Independent Schooling (AFIS) suggests there are around four times as many children from the highest-income households in state schools as in independent schools; in fact, there are more children from the wealthiest families attending state schools than there are pupils in the entire independent sector.

 

 

School labels do not reliably identify need.

 

When institutions use school background as a shortcut for socioeconomic status, support is inaccurately targeted, excluding some children who genuinely need help while including others based on broad assumptions.

AFIS also notes that pupils attending independent schools are often excluded from eligibility measures linked to free school meal criteria, even where their education is fully bursary-funded.

 

 

The Impact

Using school labels in this way relies on simplistic, binary assumptions.

 

It reinforces stereotypes and creates stigma, including assumptions:

• that all children in state schools are disadvantaged
• and that all children in independent schools are wealthy and privileged
  Neither reflects reality.

Children do not choose the schools they attend, yet they are increasingly being labelled and treated differently based on institutional categories rather than individual circumstances.

 

These approaches can also lead to inconsistent and unfair outcomes.

 

For example:

• a family on a lower income may be asked to pay more because their child attends an independent school
• a higher-income family may pay less because their child attends a state school
  These outcomes do not reflect the real diversity of families across school types.
   

A better approach is possible

 

At AFIS, we support efforts to widen participation and improve access to opportunity.

But support should be based on real circumstances and genuine need — not crude institutional labels.

Through our Beyond School Labels: Rethinking Social Mobility  campaign, we are working to promote more accurate, evidence-led and inclusive approaches to identifying disadvantage and targeting support.

AFIS is also developing practical proposals to help organisations and policymakers implement fairer and more accurate means-testing approaches based on genuine need rather than simplistic school-type assumptions.

We are engaging constructively with organisations across the arts and cultural sector, alongside government and policymakers, to explore practical and effective alternatives that promote fairness, inclusion and social cohesion.

AFIS is also examining the wider use of school-background profiling in areas including outreach, healthcare, work experience and public sector access initiatives.
 
What this petition calls for
We call on arts and cultural organisations to:

• review pricing and access policies linked to school background
• end the use of school labels as a basis for differential treatment
• adopt more accurate, needs-based approaches to widening participation and targeting support
• work collaboratively to ensure access policies promote fairness, inclusion and social cohesion
  Because access to arts, culture and education should expand opportunity, not divide children.