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Lord Lucas: I am grateful to the Minister for that clarification. There is no paragraph (a), (b) or (c) in the original 1991 Measure, so one can become totally lost trying to find where the amendment fits.
This is very much where I had hoped that we should end up. Schools will have to pay attention to what the diocese says and we can berate the Bishops, at least for a few years yet, if the diocese is not saying things that we like.
I am encouraged, too, by the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Alton, which seemed to indicate without being specific that the Roman Catholic Church will follow along similar lines. I know that it has had its difficulties in the past with particular foundations which have not chosen to follow diocesan advice or indeed have said that diocesan advice is of no relevance to them at all. A few exceptions do not matter. What matters is that the broad thrust of religious education in this country is inclusive. I shall be delighted if this turns out to be the way it works in practice.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Baroness Sharp of Guildford moved Amendment No. 212:
- Page 139, line 3, at end insert—
In section 99 of the 1998 Act (general restriction on selection by ability or aptitude) subsection (4)(b) is omitted.
Section 102 of the 1998 Act (permitted selection: aptitude for particular subjects) shall cease to have effect."
The noble Baroness said: The purpose of the amendment is to drop the provision now open to specialist schools to admit up to 10 per cent of their pupils on the basis of aptitude.
Section 102 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 allows the admission authority of schools with a specialism to give priority for up to 10 per cent of the pupils who can demonstrate an aptitude in the relevant subject. Current regulations allow selection in physical education and sport, the performing arts, visual arts, modern foreign languages and technology. The Government are now extending the range of specialisms to include maths, science and business and engineering specialisms.
Our objection to the ability to select by aptitude is threefold. First, it is unnecessary. Government-funded research undertaken by Dr Anne West and colleagues at the London School of Economics found that of the schools responding to their survey—namely, schools with a specialism—only 7 per cent were actually selecting by aptitude. In other words, in practice, very few schools use this facility. Indeed, when pressed about the legitimacy of such selection processes, the Government's usual response has been to say: "Very few schools do it, so why worry?". But it is very strange to justify legislation in such a way. It would be better by far to remove it from the statute book.
Secondly, there are real doubts about whether it is possible to distinguish testing for aptitude rather than ability. Professor Peter Mortimore, then director of the Institute of Education at London University, writing in the Guardian in 1998, declared that it was not possible to diagnose specific aptitudes for most curriculum subjects. Where it is used, it is more likely to be used by voluntary-aided and foundation schools. A Written Answer to a Question posed by Mr David Chaytor in another place on 5th March 2001 listing specialist schools operating as of that date showed that, of the 24 schools using the facility to select by aptitude, 19 were foundation or voluntary-aided schools. In most cases these schools set tests and/or interviewed pupils.
Tests and interviews of the type used in these circumstances do not widen choice—they give more choice to those few children (and their parents) who pass the test or interview, but for most children and parents it means that, whereas their local school used to take pupils from across the whole ability range, it is now restricted, and it is the school, not the parents and children, which is doing the choosing.
Thirdly, although little used at present, the substantial expansion in the number of specialist schools may lead to the process of selection becoming more commonly used. There is a domino effect: when one school in a neighbourhood starts setting an "aptitude test" to select 10 per cent of its intake, neighbouring schools feel obliged to follow suit. In many areas—my own area of Guildford is an example—all secondary schools will be specialist schools of one sort or another. Parents who in the past have been confident of a place on the grounds of nearness to a school put their children in for the test "just in case", with the result that more and more children—on top of their year seven SATs—now face entry tests for secondary school, with all the worries and, if they fail, the perception of failure that this entails. Is this really what the Government want?
To return to my first point, at present so few schools test by aptitude that this is an unnecessary procedure. We should like to see it removed from the statute. I beg to move.
Baroness Blatch: This really is high politics. We are returning to what I have always regarded as the politics of envy. The noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, speaks against the background of a very recent press release
I profoundly believe that education should educate children so as to match their aptitude and abilities as closely as possible. As the Minister herself has argued, the "one size fits all" approach certainly does not work and we need different types of school for different children.
There is already a great deal of selection. Parents select school by moving house—to an area where there is a school that they would like their children to attend—but that option is not available to those who cannot afford to move. There are tests and entrance examinations for young people seeking to enter dance schools, drama schools, language schools and schools specialising in science and technology. There are arrangements for young people wishing to do particular courses after 16. Some young people present themselves for a particular course at a further education college, but, sometimes, when their aptitude and/or ability is tested, they are counselled that they are perhaps over-reaching themselves or seeking to join the wrong course for their particular aptitude and abilities. Although the colleges may not be able to stop young people taking those courses, they nevertheless try to counsel them in a manner that accords with their best interests. Aptitude and ability are tested also in colleges and universities.
Baroness Sharp of Guildford: We are saying in this amendment that we are against testing for aptitude at 11, not 16 or pre-university. We accept that it is possible to set tests to measure aptitude at those ages, but we do not think it feasible to do it at 11.
Baroness Blatch: I really would like the noble Baroness to attend some of these schools to see just how successful they are. I am pleased to support the Government in their policy objective of expanding the number of specialist schools. They want more children to have the choice. They want more and more children to receive an education that matches their needs, aptitudes and abilities as closely as possible.
As I was about to say before the intervention of the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, I do not want to get into the issue of the difference between ability and aptitude. The noble Baroness, Lady Blackstone, who preceded the Minister in her role as education Minister in this House, never succeeded in distinguishing ability from aptitude, and I do not want to get into those semantics. I know that someone with an aptitude for science and technology usually has to have an ability in relation to the same. Equally, those with an ability to be proficient in dancing, drama and/or music usually also have an aptitude for them. It is an arcane argument that I do not wish to enter.
I really do believe in opening up the education system and selecting children. I remind the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, that even some special schools
Perhaps I am remiss in not familiarising myself with Section 99 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. However, given that legislation and the Government's programme for city technology colleges, city academies, specialist schools and even their bursaries for dance and music schools, I cannot see them accepting this amendment. Nevertheless, if they were to accept it, my understanding is that that would be the end of grammar schools, specialist schools and city academies, all of which are comprehensive in every sense of the word. By law, under a band system, they have to accept pupils across the ability range. Consequently, if the amendment were passed, many young people could be disappointed. This is a mean-spirited amendment and I hope that it will not be accepted.
"Let me make clear my opposition to selection in whatever form it takes. By ability. By aptitude. By specialism or by faith".
That is the background against which she speaks.
6.15 p.m.
Lord Peston: I am deeply indebted to the noble Baroness, Lady Blatch, because she has done a better job than I could possibly do in stating everything that I disagree with in education. I am rather shocked that the Conservative Party, of which she is an official spokesman, has gone back that many years in defending selection, secondary modern schools and all the things that we have spent most of our lives trying to get rid of.
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