If, like me, you are at the almost-a-senior-citizen end of the age-range and, again like me, attended a grammar school over 40 years ago, you might wonder what the political fuss about grammar schools is all about... after all, it didn't do us any harm, or did it?
Thinking back to my time at two different grammar schools made me realise that although I had the privilege of a grammar school education I was, coming from a not-well-off family, unable to take advantage of many of its benefits. My parents had to struggle to find the money for a compulsory trip to Wembley for the All England Women's Hockey Final. I could not go on any of the optional school trips or exchange visits as they simply could not afford it, whilst even buying the ingredients for our weekly cookery lessons made a significant hole in their food budget for the week. Buying expensive items of uniform each year for a girl who grew so fast was always a challenge - skirts could be run up on the sewing machine at home, but blazers, gaberdines, gym knickers, hockey shorts etc all put an inordinate strain on a household with one regular-but-low income earner and one who was frequently out of work.
Did I benefit from the grammar school teaching? Probably, as I was a bright and able pupil according to my school reports, and spent my school years in the A-stream for each subject I took which resulted in 6 "O" Levels as they were in those pre-GCSE days. I recall the shock expressed by the headmistress when I told her I was leaving at the end of the 5th form to go and find a job. "But what about "A" levels and university?" she asked, it being expected that all A-streamers at least should be following that path. I tried to explain that my parents were on the brink of separation, that my family life was falling apart around me, and that my mother (who was a low-earning State Enrolled Nurse) could not afford for me to stay on at school any longer as my brother (seven years younger than me) was still going through school too. So I quit and started work at 16, as did many of my peers who attended the local secondary modern school along with those from the C and D streams at the grammar.
Any benefit I gained from the grammar school education was negated in the short term by effectively having to go and get a job to help keep a roof over our heads. I was able in later years to go back into education, enrolling with the Open University, and subsequently undertaking further courses at various colleges. But my £12 a week pay on leaving school almost doubled our weekly family income, so for me it was not a choice but a necessity. My brother, who attended the secondary modern, was never academically gifted but, as his teachers said at the time, he had a good practical mind and worked well with his hands, he would never struggle to find work. How right they were! He joined the RAF from school, trained in electronics and became a highly skilled radar technician, spending 25 years with the RAF before moving onto BAe Systems.
I think that the furore over bringing back grammar schools misses the point that education should be available to everyone, irrespective of their academic ability or financial situation. We should be providing schools that fulfil the needs of all children - and that can recognise and provide both for those who have academic ability and those who are of a more practical or artistic nature to whom maths or grammar can appear to be an alien language. We need to recognise that a national curriculum based on a narrow range of subjects and monitored by tests at 7 and 11, and GCSE's and A-levels, does discriminate against large numbers of children who do not have traditionally academic skills but who are more than capable of working with their hands, of being creative in the arts and crafts, in music and drama, as photographers or carpenters, plumbers or car mechanics. A one-size-fits-all policy does not work!
But every child deserves the same opportunity to learn without the worry of cost, so we need to sort out the mess that is education in the UK. Private schools, faith schools, public schools, grammar schools, comprehensive schools, what a total mish-mash it is! Questions such as, "Can you afford the fees or the uniform or the extras like trips?" "Did you move to an area because a school provides a 'better' education than another one?" "Did your children endure selection at 11+?" all highlight problems within the current educational system. Bringing back grammar schools will not help solve the problem facing education in the UK.
We need to reconsider how we offer and provide education. We need to look not just at the schools themselves but the whole issue of the school year and holidays, such as the summer break which was based on the now-defunct needs of a mainly agricultural society where the kids were needed through the summer to help on the land with harvesting. We need to consider whether school attendance hours are still appropriate for modern society. So much has changed in the last 70 years yet it seems that they way we provide education has not really moved on very much. Yes, various governments have tinkered with things, made small changes, allowed schools to opt out to become academies etc., but the core education system is still the same for the majority of children as it has been since the 1944 Education Act, and it does not work to the benefit of all children.
We need to ensure that education is fully funded by the state, not by religious groups, private capital or fee-paying parents. We need to reconsider the wisdom of academies being removed from local education authority supervision. We also need to review how we can offer real opportunities for all children to explore and develop their potential and skills, and provide them with the support and training that will help them as they grow into adulthood so they have a good solid base on which to build their futures, be it in industry, science, business, the creative arts, the service and tourism sectors, or as inventors of wacky objects!
