Come late to this but.......

...... also attended a grammar school, first generation to Uni from a mining family
....... went on to become a teacher, school adviser, Ofsted inspector and school governor.

Anecdotal evidence, even from personal experience, is a pretty useless base from which to extrapolate, make generalisations or use as evidence because there will always be people with opposite or different experiences. For instance: I thought I was jbeing brave going into teaching after the 'high jinks' at my grammar school and couldn't believe how passive most students were that I came across when teaching in comprehensives. I also remember that I was one of only five from my class of over 30 who 'passed' the 11 plus - I know the number passing was determined by the number of places in 'Grammars' versus 'Secondary Moderns' in my area rather than any absolute standard. The 11+'was a nonsense and questions very biased towards pupils whose parents could afford private tuition or other means for cramming. If you look at what happens in Kent and Bucks where they still have grammars, that is still the case.

As an Inspector I came across good and bad schools - the only one I helped put into special measures was a grammar, and I came across a lot of dedicated and brilliant teachers in all types of school. Good heads knew how to get rid of duff teachers, and also how to make their schools exciting places to learn, despite increasing curriculum constraints. Some headteachers didn't' and found excuses for not tackling problems. Leadership and management are crucial in giving all students the life chances they deserve. Grammars - and Academy's - game the system where they can. They try to make their job easier by selecting students, but someone still has to teach those they don't select.

To say Sutton Trust 'swamp the media' is tosh (I'm being polite). Their research is very rigorous - and they look at evidence rather than try to selectively fit facts to a pre-determined policy framework. Institute of Education and NFER similarly. Don't reject evidence based on research across many schools just because it doesn't accord with your experience - by all means question it and test it, but it's become too fashionable to reject 'experts'. Especially irritating is the interference of politicians - classic examples of amateur's bollocksing things up. They are in the process of taking education back to a very dark place - contrasting with the positive strides made, for instance in London comprehensives through the Challange programme in the noughties.

When even Michael Wilshaw is critical of a policy, the Tories really should take a long hard look at themselves. To bang on about parental choice is Alice in Wonderland language when describing a policy that will allow schools to choose their pupils. Throw in faith schools and 'public schools' and we are just going to entrench divisions and worsen social mobility. The policy is the exact opposite of what they should be doing if they wish to achieve their stated objectives.

Posted By: Tressells Broadbrush on September 9th 2016 at 19:01:27

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