Call to save comprehensives

Call to save comprehensives

By Justin Parkinson BBC News Online at the NUT conference in Harrogate

Teachers have called on the government to defend comprehensive schools, and criticised moves towards specialism and selection.

Comprehensives must stay, say teachers

Delegates at the National Union of Teachers conference in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, voted for the continuation of a "broad curriculum embracing human culture to the full".

The union opposes the government's attack on "bog-standard comprehensives" and the creation of more specialist schools in areas such as technology, sport and drama.

Judy Moorhouse, a member of the NUT's national executive, said: "All children should be entitled to a free comprehensive system.

'Abolish selection'

"The government seems determined to pursue a policy that undermines the comprehensive system, perhaps undermining it irrevocably."

The motion said it was unfair to ask 14-year-old pupils to embark "on a narrow vocational or academic course".

NUT members heard that skills and knowledge of all kinds were of equal value.

This was especially so, given the technological needs of the modern economy.

The NUT promised to fight to ensure "all forms of overt and covert selection should be abolished".

The debate comes amid uncertainty over the future of the remaining grammar schools in England.

Indri Sen, a teacher, told the conference: "The work must begin now in calling for a regime change within our comprehensive schools towards genuine mixed teaching."

The government says specialist schools will raise the general standard of education.

But opponents claim they are "elitist" and will create a "two-tier" system.