New research shows attending a private school has very little bearing on a student’s results.

Unsurprisingly, the biggest benefit appears to come from home, not school. 

A University of Queensland study shows birth weight, the amount of time a mother spends with her child, and the education level of parents will have more impact on a child than whether they attend a private or public school.

The research, involving four waves of Australian primary school-aged children born since March 1999, supports the findings of similar studies in the United States and United Kingdom.

“Our results show that sending children to Catholic or other independent schools has no significant effect,” UQ’s Professor Luke Connelly said.

“Any differences we see in test results are not due to the school type.

“Rather, they reflect the differences between households and students that already exist in society.

“The work adds to a growing literature from three different continents that the returns from attending independent primary schools are no different from those of attending public school.”

The study tracked more than 4,000 Australian primary school children between grades three and five.

While a paid education was not indicative of a child’s school success, other factors had a clear influence.

Children with a birth weight of less than 2.5kg achieved significantly lower test scores, especially in grammar and numeracy.

And children’s test scores decreased as mothers’ work hours increased, but the working hours of the father were found to have no statistically significant impact.

Children of parents who had both completed Year 12 had significantly higher test scores on all subjects.

Observations were based on performance in the Australia-wide National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), tests held in May each year.

The research is published in the Labour Economics journal.