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From The Socialist newspaper, 10 May 2017
May's grammar school inequality exposed
Corbyn pledges council powers to build schools and take over academies
photo Paul Mattsson (Click to enlarge)
We say
- Nationalise the whole school system
- Expand funding and curriculum
- Scrap grammar schools
James Kerr, teacher and NUT activist
Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to give powers to councils to build schools and take over academies. This is a very good start, much needed to undo the dismantling of state education.
To save state education, he will need to go further and declare he will renationalise the entire system. This alone can enable provision to be properly and democratically planned to serve the needs of all students. It must also mean expanding the curriculum on offer.
Corbyn should campaign boldly on his good starting pledge to halt the £3 billion cuts to schools.
On top of this, he will need to kick the privateers out of the classroom. And while stopping the present cuts is important, he needs also to pledge an increase in school funding to bring down class sizes and solve the teacher workload crisis.
While the question of funding dominates the minds of heads, teachers, students and parents in the general election, the Tories' grammar school policy has also been put under the microscope. Once again it proves to be a policy which discriminates against children from poorer backgrounds.
Social mobility?
Theresa May and Education Secretary Justine Greening have argued that grammar schools can be a vehicle for social mobility. Yet a recent survey of Kent grammars by Education Datalab showed only 12% of students eligible for free school meals passed the 11-plus selection exam, compared with 30% of their better-off counterparts.
The exam boards have also conceded that the 11-plus can never be 'tutor-proof', enabling families to pay to prepare their children for the test.
Any form of selection inevitably creates losers and disrupts the landscape of educational provision for all students. It also flies in the face of years of educational advances, and a recognition by much of the profession that mixed-ability teaching in a comprehensive setting benefits all students, if properly funded.
However, this policy is not about serving the interests of the many, it is a policy born of austerity. With huge cuts to all schools, this is an attempt to appeal to a section of society on the basis that selection will insulate the chosen few from the worst effects of budget reductions.
This outlook already has headteachers writing an open letter to Theresa May warning her of the dangers of cuts, which could even see a reduction in the school week.
An audacious programme for schools would inspire not only current voters, but a whole generation of young people who have a future worth fighting for.
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In The Socialist 10 May 2017:
What we think
Local election results must mean Corbyn campaign is stepped up
Socialist Party news and analysis
Tories wrecking our NHS: kick them out!
Corbyn pledges freeze on 'STP' health cuts
Corbyn pledges council powers to take over academies
Tories forced to publish useless plans on toxic air
1,000 super-rich own £658 billion!
Corbyn promises to scrap hospital parking fees
Corbyn would limit TV junk food ads
International socialist news and analysis
France: Macron won't solve economic & social crises
Local elections 2017
TUSC's anti-cuts message finds positive response
Liverpool city region mayor election - almost 8,000 votes for TUSC
Tories win West Midlands mayor - the complete failure of the Labour right
Labour hangs on in Wales despite cuts councillors
Doncaster TUSC's campaigning against cuts goes on
Workplace news and analysis
Tube strike at London Bridge over unfair dismissal
After the Unite elections - now turn outwards
Workers fight back against race to the bottom!
Royal Mail walkout over suspension of union reps
Good debate and response at radiographers' union conference
Socialist readers' comments and reviews
US: women ice hockey players' strike threat wins living wage
Featured letter: disabled workers want our voices heard, not charity
Foreign aid corruption: capitalism to blame
Why I joined: raising the ideas of socialism
Theatre review: Fracked! Political satire skewers frackers
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Campaign launch: "rip-off bosses and greedy bankers - enough is enough!"
Overflowing Corbyn rally in Leicester
Hundreds rally for Corbyn in Leamington
One Housing tenants force housing association back
Jobstown Not Guilty trial round-up
Yorkshire meeting in solidarity with the #JobstownNotGuilty campaign
Socialists tell free marketeers
Packed Socialist Party meeting discusses the general election
Sutton Coldfield socialist campaign stall
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