"A crisis of not enough teachers, not enough school places and not enough money, as a consequence of years of public sector cuts and austerity."

Grammar schools a ‘distraction’ from solving the crises in education

The Government’s plans to introduce new grammar schools are a distraction from the real challenges and crises it has created in the education system, the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union in the UK, has told TUC Congress today.

Speaking on  selection in education at the Congress in Brighton today, NASUWT Deputy General Secretary Dr Patrick Roach, told Congress that the proposals on selection are about extending privilege to a few, rather than tackling the problems of inequality and social exclusion which are blighting the lives of children and young people across the country.

He said:

“It is time for government to commit to the vision and values of comprehensive education that secures equality of opportunity and entitlement for all our children and which is the basis for securing our shared values, inclusion and mutual respect and understanding.

“The Government’s proposals to remove barriers to selection of pupils on the basis of ability, aptitude and religion are a distraction from the real challenges and crises in our education system.

“A crisis of not enough teachers, not enough school places and not enough money, as a consequence of years of public sector cuts and austerity.

“These proposals are a distraction from the failure of this Government to end the scourge of insecure employment and low pay, discrimination, prejudice and hate on the streets, homelessness, the lack of affordable housing and the lack of investment in high quality training, skills and decent jobs which are blighting the lives of children and young people.

“The Government’s proposals on selection are about extending privilege to a few, not about tackling the problems of inequality and social exclusion which blights the lives of many in our country.

“We must demand a better deal for all our children.”

Notes to editors:

The text of the motion is below:

Selection in education
Congress opposes the expansion of selection in England’s schools by whatever means – either through the establishment of new grammar schools, or by allowing free schools to select some of their intake.

Congress notes that there is no evidence that grammar schools provide a route for poor, academically able children to achieve better life chances. Nearly all grammar schools have fewer than 10 per cent of pupils eligible for free school meals. Ninety-eight of the 164 grammar schools have fewer than 3 per cent and 21 have fewer than 1 per cent.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has found that deprived children are significantly less likely to go to a grammar school than their more advantaged peers, even when they do they achieve the same academic levels aged 11. Nor have grammar schools ever been a vehicle for social mobility – even in their heyday in the 1950s and 60s a pitiful 0.3 per cent of grammar school pupils with two ‘A’ levels were from the skilled working class.

These inequalities of birth, exacerbated by academic selection, continue throughout life. The average hourly wage difference between the richest 10 per cent and the poorest 10 per cent of earners in grammar school areas is over four pounds more than in non-selective areas. But the blight caused by academic selection at 11 is not just economic – the damage done to ‘11+ failures’ can last throughout life, affecting self-worth, ambition and confidence.

Congress asks the TUC to work with all the education unions, and all stakeholders, including parents, to oppose any increase in academic selection.