1. Towards a theory of uneven (regional) development of education: elite and middle-class educational institutions and the cultural and economic dominance of the South-East of England
Sol Gamsu, Dept of Geography, King’s College London.

2. Situating elite and middle-class schooling in London: a regional and historical approach
Gentrification in global cities leading to transformation of school system and displacement of working-class students (Butler and Robson 2003; Butler and Hamnett 2013; Lipman 2013)
Distinctiveness of schooling of middle class in gentrified neighbourhoods in London compared to other UK cities (Bridge 2006)
Particular dynamics of transformation of schooling in a global city
Alongside these recent changes - traditional concentration of elite private schools on London and the South-East of England
Situate an analysis of elite and middle-class dominated schools in London within a regional and a historical context

3. Towards a theory of uneven regional development of education
The layers of history which are sedimented over time are not just economic; there are also cultural, political and ideological strata, layers which also have their local specificities.
(Massey, 1995: 116)
The capital city is – no pun intended – the site of capital, that is, the site in physical space where the positive poles of all the fields are concentrated along with most of the agents occupying these dominant positions
(Bourdieu, 1999: 25)
What this allows an urban sociology of education to speak ‘out’ to feed into other debates.

4. Presentation structure
1. Historical regional divisions of class and schooling: the south- eastern bias of the recruitment of Oxford and Cambridge
2. Contemporary regional divisions of class and schooling:
private schools since and the crisis of schools outside the South- East
rise of London’s ‘super-state’ schools over the last years

5. The historical dualism of the English middle classes and the long south-eastern bias of Oxbridge…

6. Rubinstein and the 19th century dualism of the English middle classes
Rubinstein by late 19th C deep economic divide between income of middle classes in London and South-East and industrial middle classes in northern cities.
Late 19th C also major period of expansion and reform of elite ‘public’ schools and universities
Hypothesised that this economic dualism was also cultural and affected attitudes to education
London/South-eastern middle class much more predisposed to the public schools and Oxford and Cambridge than those in North
Did not present evidence but is a useful historical argument

7. Oxbridge recruitment by school – 1867 vs 2012

8. The key ‘feeder schools’ to Oxbridge: now more concentrated on the South-East

9. Private schools since the crisis – entrenching the south-eastern skew of elite schooling…

10. Trends in private school participation since the crisis

11. Northern private schools: facing the effects of the crisis
Cosmopolitan urban professionals of the South-East use the private sector: not in the North.
Four large private secondary schools in Liverpool, Bradford, Blackburn and Newcastle have become free schools since 2008
‘Research has shown that the number of families able to afford the fees at Liverpool College is shrinking and is likely to continue to shrink in the future, thereby decreasing the demand for places at the College…’ (Liverpool College, 2012)

12. London – the rise of the ‘super-states’, new additions to the south-eastern feeder schools

13. Re-formulating the south-eastern bias of elite schooling: the rise of London’s ‘super-states’…
Since education reforms of 1980s have seen gradual rise of elite state schools which compete with established private schools
Combined with particular processes of gentrification and ethnic- minority suburbanisation
These schools largely absent outside of London and the South-East
Social network analysis – schools and universities that form clusters

14. London’s field of schooling - three tiered hierarchy of schools and colleges at post-16
Class 2 –most state secondary schools, ‘newer’, less prestigious universities
‘Over-lapping’: intermediate group of universities, state schools/colleges with mixed destinations
Class 1 – elite universities, the “super-states”, private schools.

15. What has happened in these elite state schools?
Certain non-selective and selective secondary schools deliberately set out to compete for same clientele as private sector from late 1970s onwards
Used neoliberal reforms of 1980s and 1990s allowing increased autonomy from local government to re-introduce forms of selection
Schools not only competing on attainment and university places with private sector, culturally closer to private sector
Sport (rugby, cricket, water polo, eton fives) and debating
Culture of regular parental ‘donations’ up to £60/month
Historical endowments and legacies

16. Summary
Elite feeder schools to Oxbridge still concentrated on the South-East
Geographical divide in ‘middle classes’ reflected in the fragility of private schooling
Education and class structure have changed dramatically since 1860s, but economic and cultural dualism between the middle classes remains
Contemporary geography of schooling underpinned by this long term accumulation of cultural and economic power in the elite schools of London and South-East
Rise of London’s elite state schools entrenching this historical divide whilst polarising the school system within London
Elite education in London and the South-East both constitutive of and shaped by regional divisions in class structure and the broader political economy of the UK

17. ‘The often self-proclaimed advantage of London that everything  was centred there [...] had wrought its own nemesis to produce a country where only the capital city and central government mattered.’
(Original emphasis. Robson, 1986: 227)