ATL comment on reports that Nicky Morgan has approved a new grammar school in Kent
ATL
| Association of Teachers and Lecturers
Commenting on reports that the Secretary of State for Education, Nicky Morgan has approved a grammar school in Kent, Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said:
“If we are really ‘all in it together’ then the Government needs to act on child poverty, rather than tinkering with measuring it. It needs to concentrate on recruiting and retaining a qualified teacher workforce and it needs to put more funding into maintained schools, because all children have the right to a first-class education, not just those who can pay for the private tuition to get them through the 11+.
“Strikingly, even Policy Exchange says that grammar schools did not increase social mobility and out of the 164 remaining grammar schools only three have more than 10% of the pupils eligible for free school meals. And UCL Institute of Education research reveals a considerably larger gap between the wages of the highest and lowest paid individuals born in areas with a selective education system as opposed to those in an area with comprehensive schools.
“A Government which was serious about social mobility would not allow the expansion of selective education.”
