Positive thinking

Stephen Gorard, Durham University For some, the British private school system evokes images of rolling playing fields and academic excellence that can pave the way to elite university education and a prosperous life. For others, it simply cements societal injustice and inter-generational inequality. Unsurprisingly, the UK’s Labour party is now in the latter camp. And at its recent national conference, it endorsed a series of measures that would effectively see private education abolished . The proposal would see endowments – or recurrent income from past benefactors – of wealthy private schools “nationalised”. The money would then be used to help subsidise the integration of private schools into the state-funded system. Creating one system of schools for all would have many potential benefits. For a start, it might mean that more high attaining pupils, currently in private schools, would be role models for a wider range of fellow pupils. It might also help to improve so...

Yvonne Skipper, Keele University   Grammar schools are never far from the headlines and the BBC’s new mini-series, Grammar Schools: Who will Get In sheds further light on the selective schooling system, at a time when the prime minister, Theresa May, plans to expand it . The series follows pupils at three schools in Bexley, south London – which has a fully selective education system. The children featured in the programme showed high levels of anxiety and articulated fears that failing the 11+ exam will make them “a failure in life”. Children who go to grammar schools may achieve better GCSE results . But of course, not all children can attend grammar school – and the selection of the children who do attend is fraught with difficulty. Not all children are given the opportunity to take the 11+ – in some counties, only those who are selected by the teachers as likely to pass will take the exam – and of these children between 25-50% of children will pass . Our re...