Comparing the roles of secondary schools and universities in the formation of British cabinet ministers, 1922–2022

The role played by the education system in the creation
and reproduction of governing elites, and its countervailing
potential to create a more meritocratic and
egalitarian society, has been a topic of enduring concern.
However, these debates have been rendered
opaque by an inability to directly compare elite formation
systems both within and between countries. To
resolve this problem, we employ elite formation quantitative
indices to compare the roles of the secondary
school and higher education systems, of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, in the
formation of its political elite—cabinet ministers—between
1922 and 2022. Our findings show that the universities
educating cabinet ministers have been more
elite and influential than the secondary schools, but
not more exclusive. Additionally, while only a small
number of universities and schools supplied more
than one cabinet minister over the century, a very
small number of universities and schools supplied a
great many.