Grammar schools: critics slam £50m boost for ‘elitist’ education

The UK government has announced plans to set aside £50m in order to help grammar schools create thousands of new places. The decision has reignited the debate over the ongoing funding crisis affecting other state schools.

Education Secretary Damian Hinds says the money for grammar schools will create “greater choice for parents”, The Independent reports. The new funding will become available for the next school year, which begins in September.

Hinds has also announced that while the 50% faith-based admissions cap on free schools will remain, a new scheme will support the opening of more voluntary-aided faith schools where the intake can be up to 100% selective by faith.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The new plans will give “children of all backgrounds access to a world-class education”, Hinds claims.

But union leaders have heavily criticised the decision to award more cash to selective schools, claiming it will have a destructive effect on social mobility.

Kevin Courtney, leader of the National Education Union, said: “The grammar school corpse has climbed out of its coffin once again despite evidence of the damage that selective education causes.”

Nick Brook, deputy general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, added: “The government cannot point to a single piece of evidence that shows [a] strong educational benefit of this misguided policy.

“School budgets are at breaking point. The state-funded school system is rapidly heading towards insolvency. To pursue such an elitist policy as expanding grammars at a time of crisis is a distraction at best. This money should be spent for the benefit of all children, not just the tiny number who attend grammar schools.”

Last week, in an address to head teachers, the education secretary acknowledged the funding pressure on schools, but did not offer any short-term prospect of extra funds, the BBC writes.

In the past, Prime Minister Theresa May has been accused of “obsessing” about grammar schools, which Ofsted head Sir Michael Wilshaw claims are “socially divisive”.

According to Sky News, figures show that since March 2017, around 2.6% of grammar school pupils have been on free school meals, compared to 14.1% across all school types.

Earlier this year, researchers at Durham University found that grammar schools in the UK “do no better in terms of pupil achievement than other schools”, once factors such as socio-economic background and previous educational attainment are taken into account.