Results tagged “11-plus” from Birmingham Post - News Blog

Now then. I went to a conference the other day held by Birmingham City Council which was all about "Creating a Brighter Future for Children and Young People in Birmingham".
I always get a bit confused by these things - there was a glossy booklet to go with it (why do they have to waste public money on top quality paper?) spelling out the "Birmingham strategy" that had a lot of diagrams in it. There was talk about "priority outcomes", "multi-disciplinary leadership", "evidence-based initiatives" and "population-wide prevention".

Do we have a fair education system? Common sense says the answer has to be no. On the most basic level, we have fee-paying and non fee-paying schools. And despite the billions spent by the Government to narrow the gap between the two, independent schools - by virtue of charging parents - are able to separate themselves off from many of the ills of society that are associated with poverty.
In a city like Birmingham where grammar schools still exist, there is arguably a third tier of inequality. One might dispute this on the grounds that grammars offer free education to pupils based on academic ability, not their ability to pay.