Campaigners have called on education secretary Gavin Williamson to cancel 11-plus tests this year.
In a letter to the minister, anti-selection group Comprehensive Future asks him how it can be suitable to continue to test 10-year-olds this year when it has been decided that to run Sats, GCSEs and A levels would be “unfair and unsafe”.
The 11-plus tests, for grammar school admission, will still go ahead this year, albeit with certain changes planned, including that content will be cut and the test date will be moved from September to mid-October in many grammar schools.
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But the campaigners say this extra time in the classroom cannot compensate for children missing almost four months of education.
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Comprehensive Future chair Nuala Burgess said: “To run the test is adding further disadvantage to already disadvantaged pupils.
She added: “Children’s education has been hugely unequal during lockdown. Some children come from families who have suffered unimagined hardship during the pandemic. Others are lucky enough to come from comfortable homes with strong parental support, access to technology and paid-for tuition. The lack of face-to-face teaching in schools leaves some children, though no fault of their own, in need of a far longer recovery period to get back on their feet.”
The letter is also addressed to MPs and councillors in 12 selective local authorities; Bexley, Buckinghamshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Medway, Poole, Slough, Southend-on-Sea, Sutton, Torbay, Trafford and Wirral.
It says grammar schools should follow the example of Northern Ireland, where 12 grammar schools have chosen not to run the 11-plus this year, having decided that “running a comprehensive admissions system is the only possible and fair way to admit pupils this year”.
The letter states: “We also question how it can be thought suitable to continue to test 10-year-olds when it has been universally decided that to run Sats, GCSEs and A levels would be unfair and unsafe…If you support running of 11-plus tests this year, we would be very grateful to have an explanation of how you feel it is possible to run them in a way that is safe for children and fair.”
Dr Burgess also says there is “still far too much uncertainty over how schools will be run once they open in September” and that the need for localised lockdowns could create chaos in selective areas where the 11-plus is an essential part of the schools admission system.
Mark Fenton, chief executive of the Grammar School Heads Association, said that measures to support disadvantaged pupils taking the 11-plus this year included stepping up online support using a series of video lessons, which cover the types of material commonly found in selection tests.
He said: “It’s disappointing to see Comprehensive Future exploiting the pandemic to pursue their agenda. Schools will be welcoming back all pupils in the autumn term, so there is no reason why selection testing cannot be carried out safely.
“Ninety per cent of grammar schools in Northern Ireland will be operating their selection test as normal and the handful who have said otherwise haven’t actually told anyone how they will be admitting pupils next year. This hardly provides a model for England to follow, as Comprehensive Future claims.’
The Department for Education says arrangements for selecting pupils by ability are ultimately for admission authorities of selective schools to decide.
A spokesperson said: “We are aware that selective schools are considering what changes may be needed to their admission arrangements in light of COVID-19. We are working at speed with the sector and will provide advice shortly.”
