In a revealing interview with Peter Wilby, Shaun Fenton asserts that the raison d’être of selective schools is “academic excellence” (The children we educate will take leadership roles and create a fairer society, 13 June). This is a self-serving myth: there is no evidence that the academic achievements of children who attend selective schools are significantly better than those of children of similar ability and social background who attend comprehensive schools. In the long term, indeed, the reverse would appear to be the case, since all the evidence shows that, among similarly qualified university students, the best degrees are obtained by those who have been to comprehensive schools.
This may be one of the many reasons why not one of the world’s best education systems employs academic selection of the kind that persists in England to the detriment of so many young lives.
The real raison d’être of selective schooling is that it reinforces existing patterns of social hierarchy, which is why it is favoured by those who are already well placed.
Michael Pyke
Campaign for State Education
• Thank you for your timely reminder about one our grosser anachronisms (Private schools cash in, 12 June). While the topic may not be central to everyone’s thinking right now, it is surely time to review the almost mythical charitable status of private schools. That they are due a tax rebate of over £500m over the next five years while the state sector struggles to make ends meet seems obscene. Perhaps once the dust has settled (if it does) the education secretary should take a good hard look at the relevant legislation and take steps to remove this irrelevant entitlement and tax burden.
Dr Simon Gibbs
Reader in educational psychology, Newcastle University
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