The story of how the independent schools sector was transformed in a single generation.


In Britain, independent schools have always attracted controversy. Many take issue with the high level of privilege they are perceived to enjoy. But in recent years, the sector has undergone a revolution, turning outdated institutions with sharply varying standards into meritocratic powerhouses.

The New Meritocracy explores the changes that have taken place in this sector, its many considerable strengths and the challenges it may face in the future, as the gap between this and the state sector continues to grow.


‘A timely and important assessment of the role private schools now play in public life in Britain … Essential reading for anyone interested in the development of education in Britain today’ -- Magnus Linklater, columnist, The Times

‘The best things in education cannot be measured. They can be described though, and Mark Peel has done that well in his account of late twentieth-century schools’ -- Sir Eric Anderson, former Head Master and Provost of Eton College

‘A definitive account of the contemporary independent schools, both in their educational context and in the wider psyche of the nation’ -- D.R. Thorpe, leading political biographer

'An apt description and evaluation of the last thirty years within the sector by a man who really knows it from the inside [...] As ever with Peel the book is cogently written and describes its subject with not only sympathy ... but in addition with a cutting assessment of what will be required of it in the future.' - Limping Towards the Sunrise, blog