There is no subject more controversial in education than the government’s plans to create new grammar schools in England. And we are expecting a White Paper imminently.

The arguments about selection have been well-rehearsed and many in the education sector oppose the policy.

But I don’t want to go through the arguments against increasing selection again here. Instead, I want to focus on the “missing chapter” in the government’s plans.

What do I mean by that? Let’s go back to the Green Paper in which the government first set out its proposals.

While the issue of selection has dominated headlines, it was only one part of the paper, which outlined wider objectives:

•        To expand the number of good school places available to all families.
•        To utilise the expertise of high-performing institutions to set up new good places in the state sector.
•        To deliver a diverse school system that provides all children, whatever their background, with schooling that will help them achieve their potential.

Missing chapter

We would all agree these are laudable objectives. It is the method of delivering them that is the problem. In the government’s view, the aforementioned “high-performing institutions” are grammar schools, independent schools and universities.

The bit about universities is just odd. Many of them are indeed high-performing institutions but they are not experts in schools.

Many grammars and independent schools are excellent. But this brings us on to the missing chapter - so, too, are lots of non-selective state schools. As a collective noun, let’s call them comprehensives.

As the latter vastly outnumber any other type of school, it does beg a question.

Leaving the issue of selection aside, if the government is looking for beacons of excellence to set up good new school places and support struggling schools, why has it completely ignored this massive resource?

Of course, one may reasonably say that this is already happening - “good” and “outstanding” schools are being expanded, setting up free schools and sponsoring schools where standards are not good enough.

However, there is so much more that they can achieve.

In the forthcoming White Paper, we could reasonably expect the government to consider some of the barriers that stop non-selective state schools doing more.

It could, for example, look at targeted investment to help these schools develop new places or address the seemingly intractable issues in sponsoring a school in financial difficulties.

This is not to duck the issue of social justice. Theresa May was right to say that some families worry about their children’s education. Too many young people from economically deprived backgrounds don’t do as well as their peers in our education system.

And there’s much that can and will be done to improve the situation.

But if England is to be equipped as a truly global player, we need an education system in which the vast majority of young people are prepared for the service-led, knowledge-based and digital economy we now have. In other words, we need an education system in which all young people achieve, not just a few.

And if we are to utilise the best of the education system in spreading and supporting excellence, we surely need to look at high-performing comprehensives, too.

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