Theresa May has announced the biggest overhaul of British education for half a century, promising to create "a great meritocracy" in post-Brexit Britain. The plan will see the expansion of grammar schools, which select pupils at 11 on the basis of educational ability, and the promotion of faith-based institutions, particularly Catholic schools.
In her first major policy speech since becoming prime minister, Ms May said the educational reforms were part of her government’s response to June’s EU referendum. She said many who voted to leave the EU were also expressing a far more profound sense of frustration about aspects of life in Britain and the way in which politics and politicians have failed to respond to their concerns.
“Some voted for the first time in more than 30 years. Some for the first time ever. And they were inspired to do so because they saw a chance to reject the politics of ‘business as usual’ and to demand real, profound change,” she said.
“ Fed up with being ignored or told that their priorities were somehow invalid, based on ignorance and misunderstanding, or even on occasion that they were simply wrong to voice the concerns that they did, they took their opportunity to send a very clear message: they will not be ignored any more.”
Ms May said her government would seek to improve the circumstances of “ordinary, working people” who were struggling on low incomes, as well as the very poor. She said she would attack entrenched privilege and work towards a society where people rose on the basis of their abilities rather than their connections.
Fair chance
“I want Britain to be the world’s great meritocracy – a country where everyone has a fair chance to go as far as their talent and their hard work will allow.
“I want us to be a country where everyone plays by the same rules; where ordinary, working-class people have more control over their lives and the chance to share fairly in the prosperity of the nation.
“And I want Britain to be a place where advantage is based on merit not privilege; where it is your talent and hard work that matter, not where you were born, who your parents are or what your accent sounds like,” she said.
The prime minister claimed that restoring academic selection to state schools, which mostly disappeared in England and Wales when comprehensive schools were introduced in the 1960s, would help to increase social mobility.
Many education experts dispute that claim, warning against a return to the old, two-tier system of state education, which saw children who failed to win a grammar school place written off at 11 as lacking academic ability.
Michael Wilshaw, the chief inspector of schools, said he feared a return to the 1950s model of grammar schools for the brightest pupils and secondary moderns for the rest.
“We will fail as a nation if we only get the top 15-20 per cent of our children achieving well. We’ve got to, if we’re going to compete with the best in the world, get many more children to achieve well in our schools. My fear is that by dividing children at 11 and by creating grammars and secondary moderns – because that’s what we’ll do – that we won’t be able to achieve that ambition,” he told the BBC.
