Selective Schools Unnecessary for Clever Pupils to Thrive, Study Reveals

A recent study led by Melissa Tham, a research fellow at the Mitchell Institute at Victoria University, Australia, has concluded that academically selective schools do not significantly enhance long-term outcomes for students. The research tracked nearly 3,000 pupils from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) over an 11-year period. While selective schools had a higher proportion of academically high-achieving students, the study found minimal differences in educational and employment outcomes at ages 19 and 25 between those who attended selective schools and those who attended non-selective schools.

The study revealed that although 81% of selective school students secured a job or university place by age 19 compared to 77.6% of non-selective school students, this difference was negligible when factors such as socioeconomic background, gender, and geographical location were accounted for. Additionally, the research indicated that attending a selective school only marginally increased life satisfaction scores by 0.19 points at age 25. The authors of the study suggest that more research is necessary to determine whether selective schools provide any substantial benefits to academically able students and recommend a more stringent examination of selective school policies.