Tories end support for grammar schools

Any political party which threatens to close down England's grammar schools will provoke a "war" in the education system, Tony Blair declared last year. No political leader would be so foolish, he said.

Any political party which threatens to close down England's grammar schools will provoke a "war" in the education system, Tony Blair declared last year. No political leader would be so foolish, he said.

But today the future for the country's remaining 164 grammars looks suddenly fragile after the Tories ditched their long-standing support for academic selection.

Shadow education secretary David Willetts argues that grammar schools no longer allow poorer children an escape route from the social class they were born into.

Instead, grammars have become dominated by middle-class families and serve only to entrench the already deep divisions between rich and poor.

It is a dramatic reversal for a party which has for decades advocated a selective grammar school system as the best way to give poor children a chance of success.

The Prime Minister shied away from open warfare with the supporters of grammar schools. Mr Willetts now faces his own battle.

Traditional Tories like Lord Tebbit are already condemning the move.

They say bright children from poor families - as well as those rich enough to afford a private education - deserve the chance to be taught by the best teachers alongside their intellectual equals.

Instead, the traditionalists fear, the brightest children will be condemned to a mediocre education in uninspiring comprehensives where academic success is not highly prized.

Many parents, eager to get the best for their children, also share these fears.

Margaret Morrissey, from the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations, says the new Tory policy marks "a further erosion of freedom of choice".

"Whether you approve or disapprove of grammar schools, they are a kind of school that many parents choose."

She argues that most parents have a single, over-riding concern: "Am I choosing the school that is going to do the best for my child?"

But all the Tories have done is recognise evidence that grammars no longer offer children from the poorest homes the opportunities which their supporters have claimed.

Critics of academic selection never believed this argument anyway.

Research in 2005 from the influential education think-tank, The Sutton Trust, found that just 3% of children at the top state schools in England were so poor they were entitled to free school meals. The national average was 14%.

The study said 80% of these top schools were selective grammars - and they were even less likely to give places to poor children than the top comprehensives.

So the affluent reap the benefits while the poor continue to lose.

It is this fundamental injustice which lies at the heart of virtually every major debate on education in England today.

It cuts to the core of what politicians and teachers alike believe schools should be about - giving all children a fair chance and the best help available.

And the fact that the debate still rages is an indication that the system is still failing.

But Mr Willetts' proposed solutions have also attracted criticism.

He promises to open more of the Prime Minister's favoured city academies - privately sponsored state schools set up to replace comprehensives in poor areas.

However, the Government's own evaluation of the programme found the new academies were actually teaching fewer children from the poorest homes than the schools they replaced.

As new academies open, more affluent parents are seeing the high-profile schools, with their impressive buildings and extra funding, as a good option for their own children.

The real trouble is that wealthier parents living in leafy suburban homes will always have more freedom to choose schools than families in crumbling council estates.

One option being proposed is to allocate places at the best schools by lottery - so effectively no-one has choice. But that plan has provoked another war already.