31st December 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Ofsted has criticised grammar schools, saying that the selective schools were filled with middle class children and were a detriment to social mobility. Ofsted chief Michael Wilshaw said that maintaining the selective grammar school system was not the way to help England catch up with other nations. The report came after figures showed that just 3% of children attending grammar schools in England are on free school meals. Wilshaw concluded that whilst grammar schools produced excellent results for 10% of the school population, whilst the rest of the state sector pupils suffered. The Ofsted chief’s comments came after applications to expand grammar school services in Kent were rejected.
Concerns about grammar schools were also raised in response to the results of the global Pisa tests, which showed that the UK is falling behind global competitors. Mr Wilshaw pointed to the case of Northern Ireland, which has a more widespread selective schooling system, and highlighted the fact that they performed worse than England in the international tests. This, he said, indicates that a more widespread selective school system would not help further the prospects of working class children. He said that rather than expanding the selective system, the task of the government and Ofsted was to ensure that all schools did well, regardless of the area in which they are located.
The government has responded in support of grammar schools, with MP David Davis commenting that grammar schools gave working class children the opportunity to get on in life. In an interview with the BBC he argued that the grammar school sector was dominated by middle class parents because the sector is too small, leaving fierce competition which is usually won by middle class parents with more resources. He said that the grammar school system needed to be expanded in order to prevent working class students being ‘elbowed out’ by middle class parents. He concluded that grammar schools were the best way to put working class children on an equal footing with children whose parents can send them to private schools.