Grammar schools 'would disrupt London's education system' says UCL expert

Educational reporter(wp/es):

Grammar schools would disrupt London’s pioneering education system, an academic warned today. 

Dr Rebecca Allen - a leading schools expert - said the capital’s London Challenge programme is proof that the state sector does not need selection to thrive.

Her remarks came as the country’s top education experts and policy makers, and schools minister Nick Gibb, presented evidence to the Commons on selective education.

Dr Allen, of University College London and director of research body Education Datalab, said: “London state schools are a beacon for high standards and excellence without the need for academic selection at age 11. 

“There are opportunities for schools in other parts of the country to learn more about how to deliver a high quality academic education to all, regardless of background.”

Theresa May has said allowing new grammars would improve social mobility and standards, and enable the country to become a “true meritocracy”.

The London Challenge school improvement programme began in 2003 and pairs failing schools with successful ones. GCSE grades for pupils have shot up and the capital’s standards improved faster than any other part of the country. 

London mayor Sadiq Khan is among the high profile figures urging Theresa May to drop her controversial plans for more grammars - arguing that London schools proved high standards are not driven by selection.

He claims the increased investment, better teaching and school leadership had been the key ingredients to success in the capital.

Today Labour MP Lisa Nandy will lead the first major cross-party debate in the Commons on grammars and is asking for the Government to assess the evidence on the effect of selective education on children’s learning.

New Department for Education statistics show just 7.6 percent of London grammar school children receive the pupil premium funding for disadvantaged pupils, compared 40 percent of children attending London state schools. She claims this is further evidence grammars do not work in the interest of the capital’s very poorest pupils.

She said: “Instead of pitting children against one another Ministers should learn from the success of the London Challenge and encourage schools to work together for the benefit of all children.

"It is becoming increasingly clear that Theresa May has no plan to take the country forwards when her only major plan for London’s children is to turn the clock back to the 1950s.”

Today sixty headteachers in the Tory heartland of Surrey wrote to the Education Secretary Justine Greening to voice their “vehement opposition” to the Government’s proposals for new grammar schools. 

Members of the Surrey Secondary Headteachers’ Phase Council, said the policy would lead to further fragmentation of the education system and there is no evidence it would improve social mobility.