Grammar school

A grammar school has two distinct meanings: an elementary school or a secondary school, especially in England, in which college preparatory subjects, such as Latin and Greek, are emphasized.

Origins

The original intent of the medieval grammar schools was to educate the young in the grammar of Latin. Later the curriculum was considerably broadened to include other languages, such as Greek, Hebrew, English and European languages, as well as the natural sciences, mathematics, history, geography and other subjects.

Australia

In Australia, "grammar schools" are generally high-cost non-government Protestant private schools. Those using the term "grammar" in their title are often the oldest Protestant school in their area.

Canada

In Ontario, until 1870, a grammar school referred to a secondary school.

Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, secondary schools primarily offering a traditional curriculum (instead of vocational subjects) are grammar schools.

Republic of Ireland

Education in the Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland, has been mainly organised on denominational lines. Grammar schools along the lines of those in Great Britain were set up for members of the Church of Ireland prior to its disestablishment in 1871. Some schools remain, as private schools catering largely for Protestant students. These are often fee-paying and accommodate boarders, given the scattered nature of the Protestant population in much of Ireland. Such schools include those in Bandon, Drogheda (run by Quakers since 1956), Dundalk and Sligo. Others are among the many former fee-paying schools which have been absorbed into larger state-funded Community Schools, Community Colleges, and Comprehensive Schools, founded since the introduction of universal secondary education in the Republic by minister Donagh O'Malley in the 1960s. Examples include Cork Grammar School, replaced by Ashton Comprehensive School.

United Kingdom

By the late mediæval period in Britain there were many schools teaching Latin grammar. In England the Tudor King Edward VI reorganised these schools or instituted new ones so that there was a national system of "free grammar schools" that were in theory open to all and offered free tuition to those who could not afford to pay fees. The vast majority of poor children did not attend these schools since their labour was economically valuable to their families.

In the late Victorian period grammar schools were reorganised and their curriculum was modernised, although Latin was still taught.

Following the Education Act 1944 the Tripartite System was established, similar to the European tiered school system. This placed the grammar school as the place of education for the academically gifted (as determined by the eleven plus exam). Other children attended technical schools or secondary modern schools. The system became controversial in the post-war years. Critics condemned it as being elitist and defenders claimed that grammar schools allow pupils to obtain a good education through merit rather than through family income. In the mid-1960s the then Labour Government tried to restrict or abolish grammar schools by requiring local authorities to introduce comprehensive schools. Following this, some grammar schools became fully independent and charged fees, while still usually retaining "grammar school" in their title. However, many grammar schools continue to be state run.

The 11 plus exam has since been abolished in most parts of the UK but it remains in Northern Ireland and some English counties such as Kent, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Trafford, Wiltshire, The Wirral and Lincolnshire and London boroughs such as Bromley and Redbridge, despite so far unsuccessful attempts by campaigners to have it abolished there too. Grammar schools are selective, typically taking the top 10% of those from the local catchment area. Some grammar schools in the United Kingdom can trace their history back to earlier than the 16th century.

A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom. Four distinct uses of the word can be noted, the first two referring to ordinary schools set up in the age before compulsory secondary education, and two referring to selective schools thereafter. Arguably the most well-known grammar schools were those of the Tripartite System (also known colloquially as the grammar-school system), which existed in England and Wales from the mid-1940s to the late 1960s, and still exists in Northern Ireland.

Early grammar schools

In mediaeval times, the importance of Latin in government and religion meant there was a strong demand to learn the language. Schools were set up to teach the basis of Latin grammar, calling themselves ‘grammar schools’. The first such schools appeared in Anglo-Saxon times, but the majority of them were founded after the fifteenth century. Significantly, these schools were often separate from the church, unlike cathedral schools and hence survived the Reformation. Pupils were usually educated up to the age of 14, after which they would look to universities and the church for further study. Some new schools were founded and other schools which were associated with the church were refounded with the proceeds of the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII.

In the absence of civic authorities, grammar schools were established as acts of charity, either by private benefactors or corporate bodies such as guilds. Many of these are still commemorated in annual "Founder's Day" services and ceremonies at surviving schools. Edward VI also made an important contribution to grammar schools, founding a series of schools during his reign (see King Edward's School), and James I founded a series of "Royal Schools" in Ulster, beginning with The Royal School, Armagh. In spite of these donations, the schools relied on fees paid by the students.

Teaching usually took place from dawn to dusk, and focused heavily upon the rote learning of Latin. In order to encourage fluency, some schoolmasters recommended punishing any pupil who spoke in English. It would be several years before pupils were able to construct a sentence, and they would be in their final years at the school when they began translating passages. By the end of their studies, they would be quite familiar with the great Latin authors, as well as the studies of drama and rhetoric.

Other skills, such as numeracy and handwriting, were neglected, being taught in odd moments or by travelling specialist teachers such as scriveners. Little attention was given to other classical languages, such as Greek, due in part to a shortage of non-Latin type and of teachers fluent in the language.

Victorian grammar schools

The revolution in civic government that took place in the late 19th century created a new breed of grammar schools. After the Endowed Schools Act 1869, it became markedly easier to set up a school. At the time, there was a great emphasis on the importance of self-improvement, and parents keen for their children to receive a decent education took a lead in organising the creation of new schools. Many took the title "grammar school" for historical reasons.

Grammar schools thus emerged as one part of the highly varied education system of England, Wales and Northern Ireland before 1944. These newer schools tended to emulate the great public schools, copying their curriculum, ethos and ambitions. Many schools also adopted the idea of entrance exams and scholarship places for poorer students. This meant that they offered able children from poor backgrounds an opportunity to get a good education.

Grammar schools in the Tripartite System

The 1944 Butler Education Act created the first nationwide system of secondary education in England and Wales, echoed by the Education (Northern Ireland) Act 1947. Three types of schools were planned, one of which was the grammar school. Intended to teach an academic curriculum to intellectually able children who did well in their eleven plus examination, the grammar school soon established itself as the best tier in the Tripartite System.

Two types of grammar school existed under the system. Most were either newly created or built since the Victorian period. They emulated the older grammar schools and sought to replicate the studious, aspirational atmosphere found in such establishments.

In addition to those run fully by the state, there were 179 Direct Grant Grammar Schools. These took between one quarter and one half of their pupils from the state system, and the rest from fee-paying parents. They also exercised far greater freedom from local authorities, and were members of the Headmasters' Conference. These schools included some very old schools, encouraged to partake in the Tripartite System, and achieved the best academic results of any state schools. The most famous example of a Direct Grant Grammar was Manchester Grammar School, whose headmaster, Lord James of Rusholme, was one of the most outspoken advocates of the Tripartite System.

Grammar school pupils were given the best opportunities of any schoolchildren. Initially they studied for the School Certificate and Higher School Certificate, replaced in 1951 by General Certificate of Education examinations at O-level (Ordinary level) and A-level (Advanced level). In contrast, very few students at secondary modern schools took public examinations until the introduction of the less academic Certificate of Secondary Education (known as the CSE) in the 1960s. Grammar schools possessed better facilities and received more funding than their secondary modern counterparts. Until the implementation of the Robbins Report in the 1960s, children from public and grammar schools effectively monopolised access to university. These schools were also the only ones that offered an extra term of school to prepare pupils for the competitive entrance exams for Oxbridge.

The Tripartite System was largely abolished in England and Wales between 1965, with the issue of Circular 10/65, and the 1976 Education Act. Most grammar schools were amalgamated with a number of other local schools, to form neighbourhood comprehensive schools, though a few were closed. This process proceeded quickly in Wales, with the closure of such schools as Cowbridge Grammar School. In England, implementation was more uneven, with some counties and individual schools resisting the change.

Direct Grant Grammar Schools almost invariably severed their ties with the state sector, and became fully independent. There are thus many schools with the name "grammar," but which are not free. These schools normally select their pupils by an entrance examination, and sometimes an interview.

While many former grammar schools ceased to be selective, some of them retained the word "grammar" in their name. Most of these schools remain comprehensive, while a few became partially selective or fully selective in the 1990s.

Contemporary grammar schools

By the 1980s, all of the grammar schools in Wales and most of those in England had closed or become comprehensive. (Selection also disappeared from state-funded schools in Scotland in the same period.)

England: islands of selection

At the 1995 Labour Party conference, David Blunkett, then education spokesman, promised that there would be no selection under a Labour government. However the party's manifesto for the 1997 election promised that "Any changes in the admissions policies of grammar schools will be decided by local parents." Under the Labour government's School Standards and Framework Act 1998, grammar schools were for the first time to be designated by statutory instrument. The Act also defined a procedure by which local communities could petition for a ballot for an end to selection at schools. Petitions were launched in several areas, but only one received the signatures of 20% of eligible parents, the level needed to trigger a ballot. Thus the only ballot held to date was for Ripon Grammar School in 2000, when parents rejected change by a ratio of 2 to 1. These arrangements were condemned by the Select Committee for Education and Skills as being ineffective and a waste of time and resources.

Grammar school areas and groups as identified by the Education (Grammar School Ballots) Regulations 1998. LEAs considered grammar areas are shown filled, while circles indicate isolated grammar schools or clusters of neighbouring schools.

There are still 164 state-run grammar schools in existence. Only a few areas keep a formal grammar school system along the lines of the Tripartite System. In these areas, the eleven plus exam is used solely to identify a subset of children (around 25%) considered suitable for grammar education. When a grammar school has too many qualified applicants, other criteria are used to allocate places, such as siblings, distance or faith. Such systems still exist in Buckinghamshire, Rugby and Stratford districts of Warwickshire, the Salisbury district of Wiltshire, Stroud in Gloucestershire and most of Lincolnshire, Kent and Medway. Of metropolitan areas, Trafford and most of Wirral are selective.

In other areas, grammar schools survive mainly as very highly selective schools in an otherwise comprehensive county, for example in several of the outer boroughs of London. In some LEAs, as few as 2% of 11 year olds may attend grammar schools. These schools are often heavily over-subscribed, and award places in rank order of performance in their entry tests. They also tend to dominate the top positions in performance tables.

Since 1997 successive Education Secretaries have expressed support for an increase in selective education along the lines of old grammar schools. Specialist schools, advanced schools, beacon schools and similar initiatives have been proposed as ways of raising standards, either offering the chance to impose selection or recognizing the achievements of selective schools. Tony Blair has talked of an "escalator" system, and government education policy appears to accept the existence of some kind of hierarchy in secondary education. In most assessments, grammar schools stand at the apex of any such structure. Grammar schools receive an average of £1000 per head more than other schools, leading to accusations of dividing and separating social classes, as middle-/upper-class families are more likely to send their children to grammar school or hire a private tutor to help them. ^{[citation needed]}

Northern Ireland: expansion of the selective system

Attempts to move to a comprehensive system (as in the rest of the United Kingdom) have been delayed by shifts in the administration of the province. As a result, Northern Ireland still maintains the grammar school system with most pupils being entered for the Eleven Plus. Since the "open enrolment" reform of 1989, these schools (unlike those in England) have been required to accept pupils up to their capacity, which has also increased. By 2006, the 69 grammar schools took 42% of transferring children, and only 7 of them took all of their intake from the top 30% of the cohort.

The 11-plus has long been controversial, and the province's political parties have taken opposing positions. Unionists tend to lean towards preserving the grammar schools as they are, with academic selection at the age of 11, whereas republicans lean towards scrapping the Eleven Plus. The Democratic Unionist Party claimed to have ensured the continuation of the grammar school system in the Province as part of the St Andrews Agreement in October 2006. By contrast Sinn Féin claims to have secured the abolition of the 11+ and a veto over any system which might follow it.

The last 11-plus exam will be held in 2008 (for 2009 entry). A proposed new transfer point at age 14, with specialisation of schools beyond that point, may offer a future role for grammar schools. However, a consortium of 25 grammar schools intend to run a common entry test for 2009 admissions, and Lumen Christi College, the top-ranking Catholic school, also plans to run its own tests.

United States

In the United States, the term has often been used as a synonym for elementary school, although this usage is somewhat in decline.

External links

• A general timeline of British education
• Links on Elizabethan education
• The situation of grammar schools today
• National Grammar Schools Association
• Support Kent Schools
• An article on advanced schools and other advanced sections of the English secondary system.
• Commentary by The Guardian about grammar schools today

• A general timeline of British education
• Links on Elizabethan education
• The situation of grammar schools today
• National Grammar Schools Association
• Support Kent Schools
• An article on advanced schools and other advanced sections of the English secondary system.
• Commentary by The Guardian about grammar schools today
• say NO to selection!
• Campaign for Fair Admissions
• Ian Schagen (November 2001). "The impact of the structure of secondary education in Slough". National Foundation for Educational Research. Retrieved 2008-03-20.

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