Unfair 11-plus system must be changed

6:33pm Wednesday 25th July 2007

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I RISK incurring the wrath of many readers in Bucks when I say this: but I reckon the 11-plus system in our schools is deeply unfair and should be changed.

I don't profess to have any special expertise in the subject and I'm willing to change my mind, but I have been disturbed by what I have read over the past few weeks.

Before you get the gallows ready for me, I don't actually advocate scrapping the system as such. Our grammar schools are among the best in the country and are the reason many people move to this area.

Our upper schools are also pretty good and so there's no reason to dismantle the entire structure.

However, it seems there is significant inequality across the county and that ultimately children in more deprived areas stand less of a chance of passing the 11-plus exam.

It's clear that the more cash you have and are willing to splash out, the better chance your kid has of getting a place in a state grammar.

Several weeks ago, I came up with the idea of running a table of results in the Bucks Free Press showing how every school in the county had performed in the 11-plus.

To my knowledge, this had never been done before and it was not popular in all circles.

Some friends reacted with horror when I floated the suggestion. "But this will be unfair on schools in deprived areas," was one comment.

Another informed pal objected by saying: "The 11-plus is based on reasoning and cannot be learnt."

In other words, schools can make little or no difference to the process so a performance table is unfair.

However, the information was available so I pressed ahead and ran it. I saw no reason to censor data in the public domain, and we left it very much to readers to make up their own minds.

One teacher sent me a complaint letter saying that the table would upset 99 per cent of primary school teachers in Bucks because parents may take the view that particular schools "could do better".

However, we were also praised by other readers who found the information useful.

For my part, I was stunned by the disparity between certain primary schools. Some had 11-plus pass rates of around 30 to 40 per cent, while others had none.

How could this be? Surely if it's based on reasoning ability, then there would be by the law of averages an even spread around the schools? Deprivation and wealth wouldn't come into it.

But we know they do.

State schools are strictly prohibited from giving pupils anything apart from the basic preparation for the 11-plus.

Private schools, however, can do what they like and can tailor their lessons to the exam.

This won't make a huge difference to the supremely-gifted children or to the ones at the other end of the scale. But it appears to give border-line pupils a crucial advantage.

It's been said that parents use the private system from five to 11 to get their children into free top-quality state education.

Similarly, many parents at state primaries choose to pay for offspring to have private tuition.

So what happens if your mum and dad cannot afford this?

Once again, money talks.

Don't think for a moment I am saying grammar schools are the be all and end all.

They are not.

Many highly-gifted pupils are more suited to upper schools and, in this respect, the two-tiered system works well.

As I write this, I am sitting opposite my deputy editor Sharon Walter, a product of a Bucks upper school, who is proud of her education and has no regrets about not going to a grammar school.

My beef simply is that money should not be a consideration in state education.

Therefore, the system must be adapted in some way to avoid this terrible inequality.

Education officials should step up to the plate and come up with a method to even things out.

There are critics of selective education who would have grammar schools abolished.

That's fair enough and I respect their views.

But while grammars exist, it is only right that the entrance exam to them should be fair to all.

It's wrong that in 21st century Bucks, all primary schoolchildren are equal, but some richer ones are more equal than others.