What are grammar schools?
In short, they are schools which focus on providing an academic education based on selection by ability, typically through an entrance test at the age of 11.
The term ‘scholas grammaticales’ was first use in the 1500s when monarchs, nobles and merchants founded schools for ‘poor scholars’. In Tudor times, pupils were taught to read and speak Latin by learning classical texts from heart. School days spanned from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. and boys caught speaking in English were punished.
The big expansion of grammar schools came with the 1944 Butler Education Act, which launched the tripartite system – every pupil sat an IQ test at the age of 11 which determined which of three types of school they went to for the next 4-5 years –
- Grammar schools were established for those ‘interested in learning for its own sake’
- Technical schools for those ‘whose abilities lie markedly in the field of applied science or art’
- Secondary modern schools for those who ‘deal more easily with concrete things and ideas’.
There was supposed to be ‘parity of esteem’ between these three types of school – which means difference but equal in principle.
How successful was the system?
Basically it was great if you were one of the 20% pupils who made it into a grammar school, which tended to have a public school type ethos and prepared students for ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels, there is also a commonly held view that these schools offered a ‘ladder of opportunity’ to bright, working class students, although this may be a comforting myth, rather than the reality (see below).
On balance, there seem to be more failings of the tripartite system:
- There was no parity of esteem because the secondary moderns were poorly resourced and pupils were taught a watered-down curriculum.
- The system branded anyone who attended a secondary modern as a failure from the age of 11.
- The 11+ didn’t measure intelligence – it was easy to coach children to get higher scores, which benefited the middle classes.
- There was no equality of opportunity – In the 1940s and 50s few secondary modern pupils took public exams and when they started to take them, they were typically limited to CSE exams rather than O levels.
Why was the Tripartite System Abolished?
The county of Leicestershire was the first to experiment with a new comprehensive system in 1957, to placate the parents of children who had failed the 11+, and by the late 1950s, there was mounting evidence that the 11+ was a flawed measure of intelligence and that secondary moderns provided a sub-standard of education.
In 1965 the then Labour government issued a circular requesting that all Local Education Authorities abolish the 11+ and move to a non-selective, comprehensive system – effectively meaning they had to abolish grammar and secondary moderns and establish comprehensives.
However, it was only in 1976 that Labour brought in an education act that formally required all counties to go fully Comprehensive.
How did some grammar schools survive?
Some local authorities dragged their feet and clung on until the Tory election victory of 1979, when Thatcher repealed the 1976 act. England today has 164 state grammar schools – Kent is one of the few which is wholly selective.
Arguments for reintroducing grammar schools
- Proponents say they will provide a ladder of opportunity for poor, bright kids.
- Possibly the best argument – we’d see the withering away of private schools – who’s going to pay £10K a year when you can get a similar quality of education for free?
- Comprehensives are not good enough – we need more, quality education to prepare our brightest kids to compete in a global job market.
- We already have selection by mortgage, grammar schools may help remedy this.
- There is strong parental support for more grammars.
Arguments against grammar schools
- Number 1 is a myth – the reason so many bright working-class kids seemed to benefit from a grammar school education in the 1960s was because of a change in the class structure at that time – basically the decline of working-class jobs and the increase in middle class jobs meant there was more opportunity to go up the class ladder. This no longer applied.
- It’s unfair on those who don’t get into them.
- The 11+ favours those who can afford private tuition – so all we’re going to see is the reproduction of class inequality, then again, if we have quotas, this may not be the case (fat chance of that actually happening fairly though?)
- Standards are currently improving, so do we need to disrupt schools AGAIN with ANOTHER policy upheaval?