Most people back the Prime Minister’s plan to scrap a ban on grammar schools, a Sky News snap poll suggests.
Advertisement
If the Prime Minister is serious about improving social mobility, she would do well to listen to her predecessor who warned his backbenches nearly a decade ago that their obsession with grammar schools was “splashing around in the shallow end of the educational debate”.
“However you package this up, the Tory Government are bringing back selection to the United Kingdom education system”.
And she announced plans for grammar school entry at 14 and 16 as well as 11, to avoid the danger of late-developing children being written off as non-academic at the start of their secondary careers.
The two opposition parties lack strength in the Commons, but outnumber Tories in the House of Lords.
The PM was accused of “putting the clock back” by chief schools inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw, who warned a return to grammars would halt momentum towards better results in the state system.
Andy Woolley, South West regional secretary of the NUT, said: “Teacher retention and recruitment is at dangerously low levels, assessment is in disarray and insufficient school funding is impacting on the quality and range of educational experiences teachers can offer students”.
“We know that there are some really good comprehensive secondary schools with great leadership and we know that when our comprehensive schools work together we can raise standards across the board and that’s what we should be doing, not trying to bring in selection again”.
“We will fail as a nation if we only get the top fifteen to twenty per cent of children achieving well”.
Ms Greening insisted: “There will be no return to the simplistic, binary choice of the past where schools separate children into winners and losers, successes or failures”.
For Mrs May, a Remain supporter who now leads a party full of Brexiteers, this is an issue where she can align herself with the instincts of the Tory grassroots, and differentiate herself from the distrusted modernisers who preceded her.
A return to some form of selective education has always been a cherished vision of many Conservatives, but not all are in favour of the new proposals. She’ll also require universities that want to increase tuition fees to sponsor under-performing schools.
The point of Cook’s analysis was to see whether attending grammar schools actually improved the achievements of poorer children.
“We’re going to change the rule, so we can allow new Catholic schools to open, while making faith schools of all kinds do more to make sure their pupils integrate with children of other backgrounds”, they added.
During Thursday’s debate, he argued helping teenagers who struggle with literacy and numeracy in state schools is the answer to tackling social mobility and building a skilled economy.
They include leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was educated at Adams’ Grammar School in Newport, Shropshire.
Labour education spokeswoman Angela Rayner said the plan would “entrench inequality and disadvantage”.
“Instead of adopting this fundamentally flawed approach, the Prime Minister should be investing in schools for everyone, not the chosen few”.
Advertisement
The government is facing a backlash after giving its green paper the title “schools that work for everyone” – despite the document focusing mostly on high-ability pupils, and completely omitting any mention of special schools.
