But in a speech in central London, May also set out new proposals to force independent schools to contribute more to the state sector if they want to keep the charitable status that brings sizeable tax advantages.
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She trumpeted the outstanding results achieved by selective schools, and the fact 80% of selective schools have an Outstanding rating compared to 20% of state schools overall.
“100% faith schools can have nothing to contribute to a more integrated and cohesive society”, she argued.
“Grammar schools are nothing more than window dressing. But I know that their commitment to giving something back to the wider community remains”.
Instead, she said her reforms were created to provide “a good school place for every child and one that caters for their individual needs”.
And they nearly always have the lowest proportion of disadvantaged students. “And a future in which Britain’s education system shifts decisively to support ordinary working-class families”.
The truth is that those children at the remaining grammar schools today are overwhelmingly the lucky few whose parents can afford tuition for the 11 Plus – and the Sutton Trust has recently revealed that a fifth of paid tuition in England and Wales is for the grammar school entrance exam.
She said: “What we now need to do is look at how we can have a 21st century education policy that takes a pragmatic look at the role of grammars and, of course, across the whole of the system”.
BBC education editor Branwen Jeffreys said the government could struggle to get the plans through parliament with divisions within the Conservative party already becoming apparent.
Mr Carmichael said the Government was right to seek evidence that existing grammars improve social mobility before proceeding but urged caution. This is about opening the system to a greater diversity.
South West Devon MP Gary Streeter said the freedom is an important feature of the “education landscape”.
She spoke of the need to build “a truly dynamic school system” and to guarantee “a good school place for every child”.
Plans to lift the ban on new schools that select pupils by their academic ability have sparked a huge debate among MPs, unions, teachers and parents.
In a selective education system, more children will generally fail the test than pass it; now there are three or four times as many children who fail the test than who pass it.
The National Union of Teachers (NUT) accused Mrs May of “taking education back to the 1950s, when children were segregated at age 11 and their life chances determined by the type of school they attended”.
Critics say that wealthier children are more likely to receive a place at grammar schools because their parents can pay for tutoring.
Labour’s shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said: “By enshrining selection into our education system the prime minister is wilfully ignoring the overwhelming evidence that selection at 11 leads to a more unequal country”.
The former education secretary Michael Gove took away local authorities’ powers to open new schools.
The reforms will also require universities, that charge the higher fees, to set up a new school or sponsor an existing underperforming school.
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Noting that Mr Cameron said in 2007 that rejecting calls for grammars was a “key test” of whether the Tories were fit for office, Mr Ashworth said: “It’s utterly ludicrous for Theresa May to stand up and talk about creating a “great meritocracy” and then in the next breath announce a return to grammar schools”.
