MPW on the importance of value added

James Barton, Global Director of MPW, considers what ‘value added’ signifies in a world where tax has been imposed on independent schools

There’s a peculiar charm to British bureaucracy. It can take something as mundane as Value Added Tax (VAT) and turn it into a philosophical debate about fairness, privilege and the purpose of education. Independent schools now find themselves in the VAT crosshairs, as the government’s decision to remove their tax-exempt status has sent ripples through the sector. To some, this is justice – a long-overdue levelling of a tilted playing field. But amidst the applause and outrage, one question lingers: does redistributing resources solve the real issues we face in education?

How do all schools, state and independent alike, use their resources to add real value to students’ lives? And for that, let’s return to the name of this much-debated tax itself. Set aside the ‘T’ (a challenge for HMRC), and we’re left with the heart of the matter: ‘value added’ and what this means in education. It’s not about budgets or rankings but about how schools transform the lives of their students.

For centuries, education wasn’t a numbers game. Medieval grammar schools didn’t chase rankings or collate spreadsheets. They were places of formation, not calibration – focused on instilling discipline and knowledge, even if their methods occasionally leaned into questionable territory (apologies to left-handed students coerced into writing with their right).

“Value added is not about budgets or rankings but about how schools transform the lives of their students”

Somewhere along the way, we traded formation for calculation. League tables, introduced with great fanfare, promised clarity, but schools were reduced to data points in a system designed to measure everything and understand nothing. The problem isn’t the data itself, but how it is often used.  Schools can top the rankings through cherry-picked metrics – test scores here, attendance there – but numbers obscure the quieter victories that define education.

Even the Greeks, trailblazers of Western education, would struggle to comprehend our obsession with league tables. While they valued feats like memorizing the Iliad, they also understood the importance of nurturing the soul. Plato didn’t rank his students, nor did Aristotle hand out gold stars. Their goal was wisdom, not quantifiable achievement.

This brings us back to the shared responsibility of all schools. The duty to add value applies universally. Independent schools must prove that their resources are tools for transformation. State schools, now described as ‘beneficiaries’ of this tax reform, must ensure that any extra funding translates into meaningful outcomes.

And what about the students themselves? Our fixation on measurables blinds us to the quiet, transformative victories. The struggling student who moves from a fail to a pass. The shy child who discovers their voice. These are the moments that define value added – and they resonate throughout a lifetime.

Education thrives when it prioritises collective strength and, as we grapple with VAT’s long-term implications, the challenge is clear. Schools across both state and independent sectors must ask if they are equipping young people to thrive in an ever-changing world. They must also ask if they are nurturing thinkers, creators, and collaborators – the qualities that society desperately needs and that no league table can measure. In the end, education is not about privilege or policy, it’s about potential – lives changed for the better. Whether a school is funded by fees or by taxpayers, the duty to add value – real, transformative value – is something we all share.

MPW mpw.ac.uk

Further reading: Francis Holland Sloane Square on preparing students for bright futures