Justine Greening confirms grammar schools are back on the table but insists there will be no return to education system of ‘winners and losers’
Education Secretary insisted she remained ‘open-minded’ and said the Government ‘can't rule anything out’
JUSTINE Greening has confirmed new grammar schools are back on the table, but insists there will be no return to education system of "winners and losers" as she faced a grilling over the Government's plans.
Theresa May is believed to be targeting a new generation of the selective establishments, reigniting the debate over the divisive policy.
The Prime Minister told Tory MPs on Wednesday that she wanted to create a "21st century education system" with an "element of selection".
This morning the Education Secretary stressed no formal announcements had been made on potentially lifting the ban on new grammars, but admitted in the Commons she did believe "selection can play a role".
In response the shadow education secretary Angela Rayner said approval of the schools would demonstrate a "dangerous misunderstanding" of the problems facing the education system.
Ms Greening insisted she remained "open-minded" on the issue of selection in schools as she faced an urgent question, but said "we can't rule anything out that could help us grow opportunity for all".
"There will be no return to the simplistic, binary choice of the past where schools separate children into winners and losers, successes or failures," she said.
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"This Government wants to focus on the future, to build on our success since 2010 and to create a truly 21st century schools system."
Ms Greening stressed that formal announcements on the future of the education system would be made "in due course".
The expectation the PM will lift the ban on the opening of new grammar schools has prompted widespread outcry, with the Government's social mobility tsar, Alan Milburn, warning that a return to grammars could be "a social mobility disaster".
Ms Rayner echoed a similar sentiment as she attacked the Government's position on selection in schools.
She asked Ms Greening: "Can you tell the House what evidence you have to support your belief that grammar schools will help disadvantaged children and close the attainment gap?
"At a time when our schools are facing a crisis in teacher recruitment and retention, with the thousands taught in super-sized classes and schools facing real-term cuts to their budget for the first time in nearly two decades, pushing ahead with grammar schools shows a dangerous misunderstanding of the real issues facing our schools."
Ms Rayner also warned the introduction of new grammar schools would "entrench inequality and disadvantage".
But Ms Greening rebuffed the criticism, saying: "It would be wrong to discount how we can improve prospects for those children, especially the most disadvantaged, purely because of political dogma.
"If Labour is not willing to ask itself these difficult questions, how can it possibly come up with any of the solutions?
"We do believe selection can play a role."