GFTU BGCM Minutes 2017

which has been resisted for so long and the accompanying selection process

which is equally backward looking. The Daily Mail told us last week that the

Labour manifesto would take us back to the 1970s. Well, they seem to ignore

this part of the Conservative policy.

It is an inappropriate solution to concerns about standards and, moreover, it

means that key issues of things like workload, shortages of staff, low morale

within schools are in danger of being ignored because of the debate about

selection. The introduction of an increased number of grammar schools

reflects an ethos and approach based on segregation and there is clear

evidence of the deleterious effects of the selection process or principle on the

educational, psychological and social wellbeing of many children and young

people. The evidence tells us that social background remains the strongest

predictor of academic performance and that children from the richest

backgrounds are twice as likely to go to outstanding schools as those from the

poorest family, so any action to improve our schools should be focused on

improving school experience and opportunities for all children and young

people, not just the minority.

We need to remind ourselves that there are many good and outstanding

comprehensive schools where pupils achieve on par with the best grammar

schools, the best academies and, indeed, with the best or with the prestigious, I

should say, public schools. The concept of the grammar school as a positive

solution does not have a credible evidence base. Even research commissioned

by the Government indicates that, even though the Government are very

selective in how they interpret it, and, indeed, the reverse would appear to be

the case. Evidence from the Institute of Education and Educational Policy

Institute show that struggling students can be helped to make greater progress

when being taught alongside more capable peers. The evidence shows that

only by educating diverse groups together can we improve social cohesion and

social mobility. On the whole, those children from higher socioeconomic

groups will benefit most from the current proposals, while those left behind are

likely to find outcomes lowered as they no longer have the enrichment provided

by the top 20% who will be creamed off to go to the grammar school. It may

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