Union militants in court f ight to stop ‘stealth grammars’
EDUCATION Secretary Justine Greening is facing a High Court battle with Leftwing activists over allowing academies to select pupils for ‘grammar streams’.
The National Union of Teachers (NUT) wants to stop the schools from using a test to siphon off the very brightest pupils so they can be given more advanced work.
Supporters of the streams say they boost social mobility by allowing children from lower-income families to have an academically rigorous education. But the NUT has branded them illegal and is threatening to start a judicial review against the Government. It also wants to take legal action against individual schools by reporting heads to the Schools Adjudicator.
Some multi-academy trusts (MATs) already have grammar streams, which are more extreme than traditional sets.
While many schools have top, middle and bottom sets, this separation often happens after several years in school and only in a few core subjects. A grammar stream takes pupils from age 11 and covers all subjects.
In some instances the grammar stream class is taught on a separate site. According to the Government, MATs are able to
Justine Greening: Threat pool their resources to stream by ability on a larger scale.
In practice, this means they can stream by ability – provided these pupils have been admitted to the schools on a non-selective basis.
These pupils can then be educated on a part-time basis at different sites, provided they remain registered to their original school and receive some of their education there.
The Government says the streams are legal as long as the selection occurs after students have been admitted. But the NUT, one of the most radical teaching unions, said this amounts to ‘sneaking’ grammar schools in through the back door. Kevin Courtney, NUT general secretary, said: ‘We know the Government has no manifesto backing for grammar schools.
‘The Government is looking at other ways of selective schooling – having off-shoots, and having selective schools within a multi-academy trust. We think that would be illegal and open to legal challenge.’
A vote on taking legal action is expected to take place at the union’s annual conference in Cardiff today. It comes amid plans by Prime Minister Theresa May to create the first new wave of grammar schools in decades.
She is considering imposing quotas for less privileged youngsters whose parents jointly earn less than £33,000.
She also wants to encourage MATs to pool pupils to create more grammar streams.
A Department for Education spokesman said streaming has ‘always been allowed’ and that it ‘helps teachers give every child an appropriately stretching education’.