Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Key debate ahead on new grammars
Paul Francis
Political Editor The ban on new grammar schools could be coming to an end – if the mood music from the government is to be believed.
Prime Minister Theresa May is said to be sympathetic to the idea and has always been a strong supporter of selective schooling.
Unlike David Cameron, who maintained his opposition to entirely new grammar schools while PM, Mrs May is said to regard them as a way of addressing social inequality and offering poorer, brighter children a leg up.
As with anything to do with grammar schools, the suggestion that there may be new ones will inevitably be divisive.
And one of the core arguments will centre on how – if new ones are permitted – they can genuinely improve social mobility.
It is an issue which is already playing out in Kent. The entrenched coaching culture in the county has fuelled criticism that those who can afford to pay for private tuition are at an unfair advantage when it comes to taking the 11-plus.
Kent County Council has acknowledged – belatedly, in the eyes of some – that this is an issue that needs to be addressed.
County councillors published a report in May that said grammar schools had a “moral responsibility” to do more to help less well-off families access grammar schools.
The report made 17 recommendations to help disadvantaged families access places.
Among them were calls for the county council to extend free school transport to all children who were eligible for the pupil premium.
It also suggested that schools consider a transport bursary to pay for “bespoke” bus services in rural areas.
It is not yet clear whether KCC’S blueprint will be acted on, and with schools being much more autonomous, one of the challenges will be to persuade the existing grammars to get on board.
Whether the government will act to end the current ban on entirely new grammar schools remains to be seen. But if it does, the repercussions could be farreaching.
The schooling system has changed dramatically since the first grammars were created. There has been the evolution of academies and free schools.
The traditional divide between grammars and what were called secondary moderns may be long gone.
It has been replaced by what is sometimes referred to as a “mixed economy” in which school diversity is the watchword.
The new landscape and the ability of new grammars to slot into it is one which clearly concerns the new Education Secretary, Justine Greening.
She said: “We need to be able to move this debate on and look at things as they are today and maybe step away from a more old-fashioned debate around grammar schools and work out where they fit in today’s landscape.”
Whatever happens, the debate about the pros and cons of selective schooling is unlikely to end any time soon.