Selling world-class education: British private schools, whiteness and the soft-sell technique

Abstract

Education-UK and British private schools more specifically are often framed as a global brand of ‘world-class’ quality. However, the increased competition within the international education market has meant British private schools cannot rest on their laurels but instead must continue to project their ‘world-classness’ in a way that does not diminish their brand image. Drawing on interviews of parents and key gatekeepers, this paper examines how British private schools in Nigeria (BPS-NIG) and British private boarding schools in the UK (BPBS-UK) evoked and projected their supposed world-classness through the strategic use of white symbolism and the expensive admission process. The paper contends that the latter are types of soft-sell marketing techniques utilised by BPS-NIG and BPBS-UK to sell British schools without imperilling their brand image. The paper concludes by drawing attention to the racial implication of framing whiteness and white British specifically as synonymous with high-quality, ‘world-class’ education.