Grammar schools debate

The grammar schools debate is a debate about the merits and demerits of the existence of grammar schools in the United Kingdom. Grammar schools are state schools which select their pupils on the basis of academic ability, with pupils sitting an exam (called the 11-plus) in the last year of primary school to determine whether or not they gain a place. The debate on selective education has been widened by measures introduced by the Labour government which allow a proportion of students to be chosen based on their "aptitude" for a particular subject.

A grammar school is another name for a selective school, a school that makes admissions decisions on the basis of academic ability. This is done by a locally devised exam known as the 11-plus sat by pupils entering secondary school. It is taken in second week in the September before the child's eleventh birthday. There are 163 state secondary schools in England designated by the 1997 law as able to select on entry to year 7.

The Eleven-Plus was created by the 1944 Butler Education Act. This established a Tripartite System of education, with an academic, a technical and a functional strand. Prevailing educational thought at the time was that testing was an effective way to discover to which strand a child was most suited. The results of the exam would be used to match a child’s secondary school to their abilities and future career needs. When the system was implemented, the technical schools did not appear on the scale envisaged. Instead, the Tripartite System came to be characterised by prestigious grammar schools and under-resourced secondary modern schools. In Kent, secondary modern schools were called 'High Schools'. From the 1960s onwards both central government and local authorities began to prefer all-ability comprehensive schools, as a way of providing a better education to the 75% not selected. Margaret Thatcher, as Education Secretary, approved the closure of more grammar schools in the 1970s than any other politician.

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