Opinion

No evidence to support grammar school expansion

The expansion of grammar school places makes no sense, says Andy Mellor – and even the secretary of state for education seems to realise this

As a product of the grammar school system you would probably expect me to welcome the announcement from the secretary of state for education to expand grammar schools places for disadvantaged pupils.

However there are some fairly strong indicators that I would have probably attained as well as I did regardless of the school I attended as I received the sort of support from home that we would want for all of our children.

In the time since the secretary of state’s announcement over the expansion of one sector of the education system, some fundamental questions have persisted in my mind and the minds of the NAHT members that I have spoken to.
The first question, given the date of the announcement, is around the timing. A matter of days earlier Damian Hinds had spoken at the NAHT annual conference (this was in early May) and had triumphantly announced a raft of measures under the heading of giving schools and school leaders control.

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