This week's education column comes from mother-of-two Yvonne Keen:

As the parent of two children who have had to go through Bucks’ hellish selective process, the tutoring question we should really be asking is not does it make a difference - it patently does - but is it right that it is able to make a difference?

The serious ethical issue at stake here is that parents who can afford it are able to literally buy their way into grammar school.

The pass rate for children receiving free school meals is around three per cent, while the pass rate for children attending private schools is 60 per cent.

State school pupils in Buckinghamshire’s wealthiest district are more than twice as likely to pass an exam as children in the poorest district.

No one would argue that children from poorer homes have less ability than other children, so clearly exam preparation is making a significant difference. What surprises me is that anyone would try to argue that this is fair.

In trumpeting the introduction of a ‘tutor proof’ exam in 2013, the grammar schools were conceding that tutoring skews the playing field in favour of the better-off and creates serious unfairness in the system.

Unfortunately, their attempt to address this has failed and the unfairness remains. After three years, figures show that the new exam has not dented the huge disparity in pass rates.

If our education system is not in a position to give every child a fair chance of achieving his or her full potential, then we should be tackling this problem at source by supporting our schools in a way that ensures all children, not just a select few, benefit.

Tutoring can never be the solution because it is only available to those who can afford it. Unless of course the idea is that all children have access to free tutoring? And I think that is called state education.

Tutoring companies market their services at parents who believe their children will only succeed if they go to grammar school. I don’t blame tutors for this – I blame the system that makes it possible.

But the answer is not accepting the system, it is instead providing all-ability schools where all children can succeed and have access to an excellent education.