Education Datalab has today submitted its response to the government’s Schools that work for everyone consultation.

The green paper consulted on:

  • the identification of those families who are ‘just about managing’;
  • the contribution which independent schools can make to the state sector;
  • conditions that should be met if existing selective schools are to be allowed to expand and new selective schools established;
  • the involvement of universities in provision of school places;
  • the removal of the 50% faith-based oversubscription criteria for faith free schools.

Among the points which Datalab makes in its response are that:

  • the expansion of selectivity in England’s education system is not the right way to raise standards for all;
  • currently, selective schools admit disproportionately few children from low income households. We do not have confidence that policies proposed in the consultation document would address this issue satisfactorily;
  • we should not assume that all universities will make for good sponsors of state schools. We do, though, believe that universities could play a role in continuing professional development for experienced teachers who aspire to be masters of their discipline;
  • we have concerns that all four of the safeguards proposed as a replacement for the 50% faith free school oversubscription criteria are weak.

Download Datalab’s full response here [PDF].

Find more of Datalab’s research and analysis on grammar schools here.