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Polls Show Majority Support for Grammar Schools

Those who wish to destroy grammar schools and selection are a minority faction among the general public.

The following opinion polls show:

BBC Radio

On 5th January 2000, a programme on BBC Radio 4 debated the motion 'Good education is selective education'. After this debate, which considered most of the key issues from both sides, a nationwide telephone poll produced the following result:

For selective education 5,017
Against selective education 1,947

Times Educational Supplement

An opinion poll carried out by FDS International for the Times Educational Supplement (7th January) found that 55 per cent of parents in social classes A and B supported a return to selection. This opinion was shared by 53 per cent of skilled workers. Support for selection dropped among so-called 'working class' parents, but even in this category, 42 per cent supported selection by ability at 11. (Please note, this is not just the retention of selection, but 'a return to selection'.)
(The Daily Telegraph, 8 January 2000.)

National Opinion Polls

Those who believe that educational standards are improving are also in a minority.

In 1997, a National Opinion Poll survey indicated that 'British education standards are slipping'. 'Over half of those people interviewed...said education standards in Britain have declined over the last ten years'.

In the North 62 per cent supported this view and in the South it was 52 per cent. Only 21 per cent felt education standards have improved. (NOP Public Opinion Surveys, 6 February 1997.)