Social mobility in the UK has been in decline since grammar schools began to close in the 1970s.
According to the OECD, for every one person born in the 1970s in the poorest fifth of society and going to university, there would be four undergraduates from the top fifth of society. But if you were born in the 1980s, there would be five.
And according to the Sutton Trust, children born in 1958 were more likely to earn more money than their parents than those born in 1970. After that there is no real increase.
This is a damning indictment of modern Britain. The time has now come for us to stand up for those ignored and left behind. We must champion social mobility.
I am running to be the next UKIP leader because I want to do exactly that.
Thank you, let's turn UKIP in to the party of real social mobility https://t.co/W9QoI9mizF
— Steven Woolfe MEP (@Steven_Woolfe) July 20, 2016
It was Tony Blair’s Labour Government that introduced a total ban on new grammar schools in 1998, via the School Standards and Framework Act. This act should be repealed.
I want there to be a grammar school in every town. But more immediately, I want 50 new grammar schools to open in some of England’s poorest boroughs.
We can do this quickly and effectively by allowing one academy or free school in these boroughs to select on the grounds of academic ability. This will be the best way to widen grammar school provision for some of the poorest and most deprived children in our country.
Grammar schools enable bright kids to achieve their dreams whatever their family’s circumstances. In 2015, at least 95% of pupils achieved 5+ GCSEs/equivalent at A*-C in all but two of the current 164 selective schools.
We got 4m votes last year, its time we built on that & gave a voice in the Commons to the millions who want UKIP MPs https://t.co/jdjzoyP83n
— Steven Woolfe MEP (@Steven_Woolfe) July 19, 2016
But on too many occasions these schools are branded havens for the middle classes, so we must first look to drive social mobility in 50 of the poorest boroughs in our country.
The prevailing negative argument against grammar schools is that they are packed full of middle-class children. Opponents cite statistics such as in Kent, where in 2015 only 2.8 per cent of grammar school students were eligible for free school meals, compared with 13.4 per cent studying in non-selective secondary schools in the same county.
This doesn’t have to be so. Top-class selective education for the brightest kids from poor backgrounds will give them the chance to live out the British dream.
I want every child, wherever and to whomever they are born, to get the chance I had when I was young to get a fantastic education.
As well as focusing our efforts in the poorest pockets of the nation, the new schools should have a minimum number of students who qualify for free school meals. This percentage would vary depending on the individual locality – but it is a policy that has proved to have worked.
In Birmingham, the King Edward VI grammar group of five schools set a target of admitting 20 per cent of children who receive free school meals for four of their grammar schools and 25 per cent for the other one. They’ve also reduced the qualifying score for some children in receipt of free meals and are working closely with primaries to encourage applicants.
They say because of these initiatives they now have 100 pupils at the schools who would not have gone there just two years ago.
The new grammar schools must also have transfer examinations at the ages of 12, 13 and 16 for late developers – and to be matched by excellent new vocational and technical schools.
To those ignored by Labour’s sneering political class is simple – UKIP will speak for you. We are your new home. https://t.co/n0hQTejIl2
— Steven Woolfe MEP (@Steven_Woolfe) July 18, 2016
Not every child is academic. Not every child is good technically or vocationally. And not every child develops at the same rate. That doesn’t make them better or worse.
We must move away from putting all children in the same pot – in the same low-attaining schools that do not stretch students or cater for their individual needs.
To close the widening divide between rich and poor, between the middle class and working class, we must give every child the chance to succeed in a tailored education system.
That means selecting on the basis of academic ability and stretching the non-academic in vocational and technical areas. It means we must end mediocre, so-called comprehensive education.
- Steven Woolfe is MEP for North West England
