Professional Parents Willing to Move House For Good Schools: Around a third (32%) of professional parents are willing to move to an area which they feel has better schools, according to new research from the Sutton Trust. The research suggested that 18% had moved house in order to be located within a specific school’s catchment area, whilst 2% stated that they had gone as far as to buy a second home in order to be able to utilise that address for their children’s schooling.

Professional Parents Willing to Move House For Good Schools

The research asked the views of 1,173 parents, and has been published as a report entitled Parent Power? Using money and information to boost children’s chances of education success. Further analysis showed that 3% had used a relative’s address to get their child in to a given school, and that 6% started attending church services when they had not done so previously, in order to secure a place for their child at a church school – this rose to 10% among upper middle class families.

In addition to being willing to move, professional parents were also more likely to pay for what has been described as the ‘cultural capital’ of weekly music, sports and drama lessons which occur outside of school hours. Indeed, more than two in three (68%) of professional parents said they paid for ‘cultural capital’, which less than half (47%) of working class and less than a third (31%) of those on the lowest income suggested they did the same.

Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust, said the research demonstrated that lack of equality of opportunity which exists when some parents can actively choose to live in more expensive areas around better schools. He also noted that they can afford to employ tutors and invest in other extra-curricular activities.

In reply, Nick Faith of the Policy Exchange think tank, felt it was unfair to stigmatise parents who are simply trying to do the best for their children. He suggested that the answer to the issue was to increase the quality of education which is available in poorer parts of the country.

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