Kent County Council has opened a consultation into the ‘Future of Education in Kent.’  Its education strategy plan has somehow managed to avoid any mention of the fact Kent is the largest selective county in the country. We’ve annotated its one page summary of the plan HERE.

Kent, apparently, wants to be:

Ambitious for its young people. As it tells 70% of young people that they’re less academic than the rest.

Inclusive and child-centred. As it operates a high-stakes test sat by nearly 17,000 children, that is well known to make them stressed, and even sometimes cry.

Evidence-informed. While ignoring the huge mountain of evidence that selective education is a problem.

Compassionate and principled. Hands up who thinks the 11-plus is a compassionate exam? It’s a primary school test that divides friends, damages self-esteem, and labels children, all for no reason because results are just the same in areas without any test.

A clear moral purpose, is apparently Kent’s aim. Yet nowhere is it explained what the moral purpose is for offering a flawed 11-plus exam to the county’s primary pupils.

Inclusion is also one of Kent’s goals. Yet the council don’t seem to care that 32 out of 102 secondary schools in the county are the very opposite of ‘inclusive.’ Grammar schools invariably reject SEND pupils, and the majority of disadvantaged pupils too.

‘Equality of opportunity‘ is another Kent goal for its education system. Reminder: Kent County Council bans 11-plus prep in state primaries, while anyone who buys expensive tuition has a better chance of landing a place in a high performing school.

‘Ensuring children and young people are at the centre of all education, by ensuring they are heard, included and supported…’ As far as I’m aware no one has ever asked Kent’s children whether they prefer an 11-plus system, or whether they’d like to move to secondary school in the same way as children in the rest of the country.

It’s a ballsy move by Kent County Council to outline all the things its education system is NOT in a strategy plan, while avoiding any mention of the obvious fix to its problems. Sadly the consultation is a joke, and there is no serious intent to ask the public what they want. There is a questionnaire to fill in, but it’s a style of consultation that only allows participants to say ‘inclusion’ is either a good thing or a bad thing, but not make a more general comment like, ‘Kent education is NOT inclusive because of grammar schools.’

Nevertheless, we do urge supporters in Kent to take part, and in every text box you find you might write something like, ‘Why does this consultation ignore Kent’s selective system? The goals of this plan would be best accomplished by ending the Kent Test.’ 

The Kent County Council consultation runs until December 11th. You can fill in the questionnaire HERE.