Fools Rush In...

9th July 2003

On its website, the Socialist Education Association has a two-page paper entitled Pupil Achievement in Secondary Education, dated February 2003.

This includes a table showing the percentage of pupils achieving 5 or more grade A*-C GCSEs over a 4-year period in upper (secondary modern) and grammar schools in Buckinghamshire. Percentages are also given for county and national averages. The percentages are as follows:

So in 2001, Buckinghamshire’s grammar and secondary modern schools, taken together, were achieving at a rate 13% above the national average.

But according to the Socialist Education Association, these percentages show that academic selection is damaging standards.