{"id":38272,"date":"2017-03-21T13:09:08","date_gmt":"2017-03-21T20:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=38272"},"modified":"2017-03-21T13:09:08","modified_gmt":"2017-03-21T20:09:08","slug":"grammar-schools-debate-four-key-questions-answered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/grammar-schools-debate-four-key-questions-answered\/","title":{"rendered":"Grammar schools debate: four key questions answered"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Grammarclassroom\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Few subjects generate as much controversy in England as grammar schools do. Advocates uphold them as \u201ca driver of social mobility\u201d with the belief they can provide a ladder of opportunity for poor but able children.<\/p>\n

Critics on the other hand, see them as socially divisive; the remnants of an outdated system that disproportionately benefits middle class children, while labelling others as \u201cfailures\u201d early in their educational careers.<\/p>\n

But while people hold strong opinions on the benefits (or otherwise) of grammar schools, these opinions are often not actually underpinned by a robust evidence base \u2013 research showing a clear answer either way doesn\u2019t actually exist.<\/p>\n

And because there is (and always has been) such a mixture of school types in England, it is impossible to get a clear picture of the system-wide benefits and drawbacks of selective education.<\/p>\n

So with this in mind, I have answered some of the key questions surrounding the grammar school debate using evidence both for and against selective schooling.<\/p>\n

1. Do grammars provide better opportunities for bright but poor students?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is clear that grammar schools get better results in examinations than schools that do not select according to academic ability. But then it would be extremely surprising if they did not.<\/p>\n

Early studies<\/a> suggest that boys from working class backgrounds did less well at grammar school than their middle class peers. But long-term research<\/a> indicates that working class children still derived significant career gains from going to grammar school.<\/p>\n

The problem though with arguments about the \u201cladder of opportunity\u201d that grammar schools are alleged to provide, is that relatively few poor students \u2013 academically able or otherwise \u2013 are actually in grammar schools. Certainly those few state-maintained grammar schools that remain in England have very low numbers of children eligible for free school meals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

2. Do grammar schools disproportionately benefit middle class children?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYes\u201d \u2013 and \u201cno\u201d. Middle class children are disproportionately represented in grammar schools<\/a>, but a place in a grammar school is by no means guaranteed<\/a> even for those with \u201cprofessional\u201d parents.<\/p>\n

Between 1945 and the 1970s \u2013 at the height of the \u201ctripartite system\u201d \u2013 children were allocated to three types of school: grammar, technical and secondary modern. And under this system, over half of those from the groups known as \u201csocial classes I and II\u201d failed the 11+<\/a> \u2013 the exam children need to pass to attend grammar schools.<\/p>\n

These groups of parents, with managerial and professional occupations, found that children they had that were consigned to secondary modern schools faced very limited opportunities for getting good qualifications and entry to university.<\/p>\n

It has also previously been argued<\/a> that disappointed middle class parents were one of the driving forces behind \u201ccomprehensivation\u201d. This involved getting rid of the 11+ examination which sorted children into different schools and instead encouraged all children to go to their nearest secondary school \u2013 irrespective of their academic ability.<\/p>\n

And in a similar vein, a recent opinion poll<\/a> showed that parents are only likely to support grammars if their child gets a place.<\/p>\n

3. What happens to those who fail to get into grammar schools?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Secondary schools in the vicinity of a grammar schools will inevitably lose some of the most academically able children in the neighbourhood. But of course, the general weakening of school catchment areas \u2013 with the existence of private schools in England \u2013 means that there is already a significant amount of \u201csocially-based\u201d sorting of pupils and schools with or without grammar schools.<\/p>\n

\"Pupils<\/a>

Pupils sitting the 11+.<\/p><\/div>The most reliable evidence<\/a> also suggests that less academically able children do slightly better in schools with a more comprehensive intake than in the former secondary moderns. These modern comprehensives are schools that tend to have a mix of academic achievement and aptitude among pupils, compared with the previous secondary moderns \u2013 which was mainly where pupils who had failed the 11+ attended.<\/p>\n

4. What are the system-wide effects of a (partially) selective system?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The best available evidence<\/a> suggests that at a system level, the differences between a selective and a comprehensive school are small. And the average output \u2013 or \u201csystem productivity\u201d \u2013 is much the same. In general, academically able children do better at grammar schools<\/a> and less able children do better in comprehensive schools \u2013 but these differences are really very small.<\/p>\n

There are much larger differences between individual schools of the same type \u2013 even between different grammar schools \u2013 than between the average results of the different kinds of school. And it is also possible that some of these differences can be explained by the more favourable resourcing and teaching workforce associated with grammar schools.<\/p>\n

So although for individual children the consequences of academic selection can be huge \u2013 in terms of the educational pathways that are open to them \u2013 overall there may actually be very little to choose between comprehensive or selective systems in terms of examination results.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Sally Power is Director of Education, Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research Data and Method at Cardiff University <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Few subjects generate as much controversy in England as grammar schools do. Advocates uphold them as \u201ca driver of social mobility\u201d with the belief they can provide a ladder of opportunity for poor but able children. Critics on the other hand, see them as socially divisive; the remnants of an outdated system that disproportionately benefits […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":38273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[65907],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-38272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-higher-education","tag-grammar-schools"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGrammar schools debate: four key questions answered - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/grammar-schools-debate-four-key-questions-answered\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Grammar schools debate: four key questions answered - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Few subjects generate as much controversy in England as grammar schools do. Advocates uphold them as \u201ca driver of social mobility\u201d with the belief they can provide a ladder of opportunity for poor but able children. 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