9th August 2016 1:00
By Blue Tutors
From its earliest roots, education in Britain has been selective, splitting students into those who are more academically able, who focus on academic study to prepare for higher education, and those who are headed for trades and are taught technical skills. Grammar schools are state-funded secondary schools legally allowed to select students based on ability, as opposed to comprehensive schools where all students are taught together. In practice, ability means test scores in the 11+ exam, taken by students at the end of primary school. At their height in the early 60’s, one in four children was educated in a grammar school; however, a Labour government in 1965 ordered local authorities to ‘phase out’ grammar schools and replace them with comprehensives. Grammar schools now make up just over 5% of state secondary schools, with the remaining 163 grammar schools concentrated in Conservative strongholds, where local constituencies were slower to dismantle existing grammar schools.
The main reason that the decision to allow the opening of a new Kent grammar school is so significant is that it goes against Labour’s 1998 School Standards and Frameworks Act, which forbids any new selective schools from being established. The Weald of Kent School got around this legislation by calling the new school a ‘satellite’ campus of its existing grammar 9 miles away, with students and teachers exchanged between the two. Many neighbouring local authorities are expected to follow suit in the near future and the Kent school decision has set a precedent others can potentially use to start increasing the number of grammar schools for the first time in half a century.
Why is this so controversial? There is no argument that grammar schools work for those who attend them; results are higher than comprehensives in the same area, and it has been shown that bright students benefit from an environment with gifted peers where they are pushed academically. For the few children from disadvantaged backgrounds who manage to secure a place at a grammar school it does provide “a means […] to go beyond their social and economic boundaries”, often leading to prestigious universities and successful careers in more lucrative or prominent fields. The issue, however, is that those who do not make it into a grammar school are likely to have worse outcomes than if they had been in a comprehensive school system. The selective system, designed to increase social mobility, has been accused of promoting deep-rooted inequalities in UK education.
Data from the Department of Education and studies conducted by the Institute of Fiscal Studies and University of Cambridge all supports Labour’s claim that grammar schools increase inequality, with six times less students on free school meals than neighbouring non-selective schools. The root of the problem is thought to be the admissions process, shown not to favour those who are most able, but those who are most able to pay. Admissions are based mainly, and sometimes entirely, on 11+ test scores. The test examines numerical, verbal and non-verbal reasoning skills in a way that is not familiar from the traditional classroom setting. This is meant to provide a fairer measure of a student’s ability across different school, however, as many parents decide to invest in tutoring to familiarise children with the test and so improve test scores, children from more affluent backgrounds are found to score better.
There are fundamental difficulties in separating socioeconomic factors in academic selection, especially at such a young age. To overcome the gap created by middle-class families able to outspend others on private tutoring and preparation for the 11+ test, some grammar schools have decided the implement affirmative action; either qualifying test scores are lowered for pupil premium children, or a minimum number of places are reserved each year for those qualifying for free school meals. Many argue that rather than finding ways to compensate for an unfair system, we need to find a compromise that allows for gifted students to be stretched, while still offering better education to the majority. The new government, with a new grammar school educated Prime Minister, appears to be open to an expansion of the UK education system to form a “mixed economy” of schools, including the slow but steady shift towards academies. The new Kent school may just be the start of a fundamental change in the structure of UK’s secondary education.