Grammar school achievements ‘no better than that of other pupils’

GRAMMAR SCHOOLS do no better in terms of pupil achievement than other schools, according to a study.

It suggests that youngsters at selective schools have a similar level of achievement to their equivalent peers at non-selective schools, once factors such as background and previous attainment are taken into account. The study, by Durham University, also indicates that pupils from a Chinese or Pakistani/Bangladeshi background make up a larger proportion of grammar students than they do at other schools.

Researchers used Government data on more 549,203 pupils in England in 2015, looking at information on their attainment, school and background.

They found that grammar schools in England – of which there are 163 – take about two per cent of pupils who are, or have been, eligible for free school

meals – a key measure of poverty, compared with 14 per cent nationally.

The findings, in the British Journal of Sociology of Education, also show that on average, grammar-school pupils are less likely to have special needs, less likely to speak English as an additional language, more likely to be among the older children in their year group, and to live in wealthier areas. Raw results suggest that grammar school pupils get higher average GCSE points scores, but once all these factors are taken into consideration, grammar-school pupils achieve about the same results as similar students in the rest of the country. Professor Stephen Gorard, of Durham’s School of Education, said: “The progress made by grammar-school students is the same as progress made by equivalent children who do not go to grammar school, on average.”