The Independent (London)
June 18, 2012 Monday
First Edition
We can't be selective about grammars;
LEADINGARTICLE
SECTION: COMMENT; Pg. 14
LENGTH: 360 words
Both friends and foes of grammar schools will be watching closelyto see what signals emerge from the office of the Education Secretary, MichaelGove, following our report on how some leading grammar school heads wish torejoin the state sector if they can carry on selecting.
The Conservative MP Graham Brady, a trenchant supporter ofgrammars, says several schools have told him they would like to come back to thestate fold if they can still choose pupils.
Therein lies the rub, because the selection question remainsextraordinarily divisive in politics and the school system, with Labour firmlycommitted to non-selective admissions and the Tories in theory signed up to thesame principle - but in practice seeking wriggle room.
Mr Brady's point is that the talk emanating from allparties about parental choice is empty and insincere if, in reality, it boilsdown to ""only having a free school if it is not selective"".
He is right to point to the ambivalent character of the messagebeing sent to parents now, which appears to be that it is fine to opt forselection if you are rich enough to afford an independent school - but that ifyou are poor, dream on. Many people feel that there is an element of manifesthypocrisy in this approach, which is why Mr Gove is visibly straining at theleash, saying on the one hand that no new grammar schools will be created on hiswatch - but that the existing 164 schools are welcome to expand if they wishto.
But allowing surviving grammars to grow is not a solution to theselection argument, it is merely a means to avoid having to come down on oneside or the other. It is unsatisfying, even as a provisional solution, becausethe surviving grammars are not evenly spread around the country; only a handfulof education authorities, such as Kent, are fully selective. As a result,expanding the grammars will only confirm the existing differences betweenvarious educational authorities, which can't be a good idea.
If Mr Gove believes that grammars are a good thing, which hepresumably does, hence their invitation to expand, it raises the question aboutwhy the bar is retained on the establishment of new ones.
SUBJECT: EDUCATION ADMINISTRATION (89%); SCHOOLPRINCIPALS (78%); EDUCATION SYSTEMS & INSTITUTIONS (78%); EDUCATIONDEPARTMENTS (78%); POLITICAL PARTIES (77%); PARENTING (70%) Comment
LOAD-DATE: June 17, 2012
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
PUBLICATION-TYPE: Newspaper
JOURNAL-CODE: IA
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