State school fees call for wealthy

19 January 2014 Last updated at 04:38 GMT

State school fees call for parents earning over £80k

Dr Anthony Seldon said the more parents earn, the more they should pay

Parents who earn a combined income of more than £80,000 should have to pay if their children go to the most popular state schools, a report has suggested.

The report was carried out by Dr Anthony Seldon, who is headmaster at the private Wellington College.

Dr Seldon said it would break "the middle-class stranglehold on top state schools", the Sunday Times reported.

He also said a quarter of places at private schools should be reserved for students from poorer backgrounds.

Dr Seldon carried out the report, which is set to be published on Wednesday, for cross-party think tank the Social Market Foundation.

'Unfair farce'

"We have to end this unfair farce whereby middle-class parents dominate the best schools, when they could afford to pay, and even boast of their moral superiority in using the state system when all they are doing is squeezing the poor from the best schools," Dr Seldon said in the report.

Dr Seldon is headmaster at Wellington College

He said "the more parents earn, the more they should pay".

Dr Seldon said the move would help to close the "unfair" gap between the academic achievements and career prospects of the richest and poorest children by using the money raised to pay for more teachers and smaller classes.

He ended the report by saying Britain would be "in debt for many years to come" and "state schooling is the last great bastion holding out against the principle of payment", the newspaper said.

The paper reported that he had discussed the plans with politicians from both main parties.

In December, the head of education watchdog Ofsted warned of differences in pupil attainment across the country. Chief inspector of schools Sir Michael Wilshaw said the gap was like "two nations".

In separate comments, he said that grammar schools were "stuffed full" of middle-class children and do not improve social mobility.

Research, meanwhile, has suggested that about one in three (32%) professional parents in England has moved to an area they consider to have good schools.