A snap election has been called for June 8th and Theresa May is determined to expand selective education. There will undoubtedly be a commitment to new grammar schools in the Conservative manifesto.
We all know how damaging it is to subject children to the 11-plus and divide pupils of secondary school age.
Help us to fight this plan for more selection; please take the time to make a difference.
Here are three actions you might take.
Contact your election candidates and ask for their views on selection.
Contact your general election candidates and make it clear that you do not want more grammar schools. If you contact Conservative candidates explain that selective education will prove unpopular and produce poor results. Here are some points that you might wish to use.
- Grammar schools are not inclusive schools. There are extremely low numbers of disadvantaged pupils and children with special educational needs in selective schools. Research shows that grammar school entry benefits the wealthiest parents.
- The 11-plus test is flawed, stressful and gives a discouraging judgment to children of primary school age. Parents feeling pressure to pay for tutors at £30 per hour, and no ‘tutor proof’ test is possible. 22% of children are inaccurately judged by the test based on eventual GCSE results. This test is flawed and can be damaging to children’s self-esteem.
- New grammar schools create secondary moderns, reducing choice for anyone who prefers comprehensive education. It is not possible to create grammar schools without turning nearby schools into secondary moderns. Schools with an intake skewed to lower ability pupils are less likely to have top set classes, have a vocational focus at sixth form, and have worse results than comprehensive schools.
- Comprehensive education works. Many thousands of pupils achieve great GCSE and A level results in our high quality comprehensive schools. There is no need for a school divide because our comprehensive education system works. Selective areas have unimpressive results overall, and produce significantly worse results for disadvantaged children.
Communicate the problems of selective education.
Please help to spread the word about the problems with selective education. You could write letters to the papers, ask questions at hustings, or use social media to comment on selection. And tell your friends to support Comprehensive Future’s campaign.
If you are a Labour party member respond to their manifesto consultation.
The Labour Party have launched an online consultation to shape their General Election manifesto, and if you are a Labour member we would encourage you to contribute your views.
Labour has taken a strong stance against new grammar schools – please use the consultation to ask them to make a similarly strong commitment to phasing out existing selection. The consultation closes on Tuesday 2nd May but it takes literally a few minutes to take part here: http://www.labour.org.uk/index.php/shapeourmanifesto/
We appreciate your support. Together we can defeat the divisive plan to expand grammar schools.