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11-plus crackdown on rich kids’ coaching ‘advantage’
CHANGES to the 11-plus system could soon be made in a bid to prevent wealthier families from giving their children an unfair advantage.
Bucks County Council cabinet member for education, Mike Appleyard, met with the authority’s scrutiny committee yesterday about ways in which to discourage children receiving coaching for entrance exams.
This system, he claims, gives children from higher economic backgrounds an unfair advantage.
Mr Appleyard says he feels especially strongly about the subject having attended a grammar school himself, despite coming from a council estate in the West Midlands.
“The idea is to find a test which is less easy to be prepared for,” he told The Bucks Herald.
“There’s a lot of coaching goes on for these exams, and it’s putting less financially stable families at risk.
“We as a council must do our bit to find a test that doesn’t put families with less money for coaching at a disadvantage. Nobody’s got the perfect answer, but we must strive to do our best.
“All secondary schools are very much in favour of getting this right, – particularly the grammar schools.”
Thousands of children put through the entrance exam – or 11-plus – system each year in the Vale as part of a county-wide scheme in all junior schools.
And in a bid to better their children’s chances many parents throughout the county seek further support from private tuition and group coaching sessions.
A website which offers 11-plus advice and mock papers to parents, www.bucks11plus.co.uk, states: ‘Many parents are now using of private tutors or extra summer classes to make sure that their children attain their highest potential.
‘Sadly, we seem to be at the stage when many of those children who haven’t had extra tuition or practice at home will stand little chance of getting through the selection procedure and entering a grammar school.’
Alan Rosen, headteacher at all-girl selective secondary school, Aylesbury High School, said he would welcome any positive changes to the 11-plus, although he claims that no students who may have been coached for the exam ever fail to keep up with others.
“Once they come to us they are ours, and we make sure they flourish,” he said.
“It’s difficult to know how much of an effect coaching actually has, in the same way as with driving tests or music exams.
“I find it very difficult to pass judgement on coaching, as I cannot criticise parents who have their children’s best interests at heart.”
But Ali Khan, headteacher at Griffin House School, a preparatory primary based in Little Kimble which costs parents around £2,500 per child each year, claims the system does not favour the more well-off, but does put the children under an immense amount of pressure.
“I think it would be a great idea to review the papers, and make the system into a completely level playing field,” he said.
Mr Khan added that despite the children being prepared for the exam at the private school, parents are still forking out even more cash for private tuition – even against the advice of the teachers.
“Coaching schools and the like prey on the fear of parents, and parents continue to get their children extra tuition, even if we plead with them not to – everyone panics.
“But the problem is it’s just too much pressure for the children sometimes.
“There’s been an explosion of these coaching clubs recently.
“These groups can make a difference to a certain extent, but it’s all about timing – the questions aren’t actually that difficult, but many children simply run out of time.
“The most important factor in passing the 11-plus is the foundation education which a child receives up to the age of seven – such as reading from a early age which builds up a good vocabulary.
“If parents want to get their child into a grammar school, they will stop at nothing and parents who must make sacrifices in order to afford extra coaching will do so – so it’s not just the wealthy parents.
“We need to find a way of testing children without putting them under such immense pressure and can test their ability without giving the opportunity for so much preparation.”
Meanwhile, the Vale of Aylesbury Housing Trust is offering free extra tuition services, including 11-plus training, named Flying Start, to its residents in a bid to bridge the wealth divide.
Rhonda Bagley, whose son has benefited from scheme, said: “This unexpected investment is very welcome with so many statistics pointing at deprivation and poor academic standards for children living in social housing.
“This is not a mere gesture of the importance you place upon your tenants, it’s a positive approach to addressing inequality often arising from underprivileged backgrounds.”
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Comments
There are 18 comments to this article
Page 1 of 2
JJ1
Saturday, December 31, 2011 at 01:26 PM@ladydeauville you must have mis-read my post because you have got the completely wrong end of the stick. Not once did I mention dyslexic children or anything of the sort. Furthermore are you suggesting children go into an exam that they have no idea of it's format or what it's about? Surely not. In no walk of life does anything like this happen. When you have your driving test you don't know what exactly will happen during the test, but you practice beforehand with you instructor. With GCSEs, A-Levels, Degrees, Interviews etc, etc, etc it's the same. It's actually discriminatory for primary aged children to be denied the opportunity to prepare. You said it yourself 'Of course grammars have good results - they generally have students who are of above average ability'. That's the best argument for the 11 plus and YOU have spelt it out to us. You clearly have had a bad experience, not me. @Far North Like I said before, a child can have endless 11 plus specific tutoring, but without a foundation in maths and logic will struggle. Any parent worth their title can provide a child with this - it's free, it just takes a bit off effort. Perhaps parents complaining about the 11 plus should spend their breath teaching their children. Even better, take your child to the library and do it for free.
JR
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 12:53 AM@ #15 I know a girl in her early 20s who struggled through secondary education, labelled as thick etc, but through sheer hard work and determination, won through to university where tutors recognised her dyslexia & worked with her. Because of this recognition, she was given loads of additional help & has a very promising future. despite what the public is told, I wonder just how many schools actually recognise the dyslexic student & help - or maybe the system doesn't want to recognise dyslexia as it means they will have to pay for all the additional help. As for it being just the rich kids getting extra help, I\we certainly don't fall into that category but I managed to get hold of quite a few past practice papers (many online!) and during a summer caravan holiday, we worked through them.. In some ways, it was a huge mistake as the majority of questions that came up were repeats from old papers & he remembered them so whizzed through the paper in a matter of moments, leaving almost forever to figure out the handful of questions which weren't on past papers. What did annoy the heck out of me, though, was the way that many GCSE courses seemed to be a shadow of what they once were & my lad told me that teachers said they only taught what they knew was coming up in the exams - and that was some 6 years ago (and recently brought to the public's attention in the national press). Any wonder we keep on seeing headlines praising the students for improving results year on year? Massaging statistics in this way might make the powers that be feel good but by not fully teaching the subjects they are surely doing students a huge disservice?
RJP
Tuesday, December 20, 2011 at 08:36 AMHere’s a thought, some of the comments suggest that only ‘rich kids’ are getting additional coaching because of the financial implication. I would suggest that this is not the case, I’m sure there are many families that struggle to pay to get the best for their children and give them the best possible start. It is all about priorities, how many of the less fortunate families that claim they can’t afford a tutor for their kids smoke 20 a day at a rough cost of £35 per week? Or perhaps like a drink every night? Or perhaps have the latest Smartphone at the cost of at least £40 per month? I believe that some parents would put their kids first no matter what and some will always put their own needs first.
ladydeauville
Monday, December 19, 2011 at 10:42 PMJJ1 are you suggesting that Junior schools teach to the test? Surely not. After all the 11+ is 'supposed' to be a test of natural ability even though we know it isn't. Primary age children 'do' problem solving as part of the national curriculum. You obviously had a bad experience if you think that children are labelled as thick if they happen to be dyslexic - either that or you went through school several eons ago. Of course grammars have good results - they generally have students who are of above average abiltiy! It's the other two thirds I am concerned about.
JR
Saturday, December 17, 2011 at 03:43 PMI have lways believed that the 11+ system was seriously flawed. It favours a certain mindset - even though I passed with flying colours and without any coaching I disliked my time at grammar because it was geared to a life of pushing paper and driving desks. Perhaps the 11+ system needs to be changed so that pupils are judged on a huge range of skills rather than the ability to juggle numbers and define words - perhaps if pupils were also given regular 'problems' to solve throughout junior school their abilities could be moulded\geared\shaped to match their natural talent - instead of simply being branded 'thick' when all they have is dyslexia?
Far North
Saturday, December 17, 2011 at 10:04 AMJJ1, there is a huge difference between supporting your child by giving time and interest and effort to help your children, and the advantages that well-off parents can provide by paying for coaching and now paying £20 a week for transport to a further away grammar school. What about all those families who simply won't be able to afford to 'support'= pay for the bus or alternatives. It's free if you are on free school meals at the moment, but if you manage to up your income a bit then you'll have to pay for the bus - how fair is that either?
JJ1
Friday, December 16, 2011 at 10:37 PMThis is completely illogical. A system that has worked well for so many years and has proved its worth with outstanding GCSE and A Level results at Bucks grammar schools should not be changed. If the system gives 'wealthier kids' an 'unfair advantage', I suppose we should scrap GCSEs, A Levels, degrees and any other type of examination that goes on at present. We should also ban parents from supporting their children's education in case that too gives them an 'unfair advantage'. I agree with Localboy that tutoring doesn't help as much as is being made out. A child can have endless 11 plus specific tutoring, but without a foundation of maths and logic will struggle. As for Grammar schools being full of 'rich kids', this is ridiculous. Grammar school pupils come from hugely diverse backgrounds as do those in non-passing schools. This argument is a being used as a smoke screen in my opinion. It should be left as it is.
ladydeauville
Friday, December 16, 2011 at 03:48 PMI totally agree with Localboy. The Bucks 11+ test is an unbelieveably narrow test of verbal reasoning. You can be highly intelligent in so many ways yet fail to get into a Bucks Grammar school. Look at the Comprehensive Future website for more on this. Also, Appleyard's comments are soon going to be completely academic (no pun intended) as all the Bucks grammars have or are going to have academy status and could change their admission exam at will. So many children feel that they are failures at such a young age. Selective education at age 11 is morally wrong.
BP Dave
Friday, December 16, 2011 at 03:45 PMIt looks like Earlofbucks should have stayed at the Grammar School for a little longer.
Far North
Friday, December 16, 2011 at 02:02 PM"Bucks County Council cabinet member for education, Mike Appleyard, met with the authority’s scrutiny committee yesterday about ways in which to discourage children receiving coaching for entrance exams. This system, he claims, gives children from higher economic backgrounds an unfair advantage." However this has not stopped Mr Appleyard from publishing proposals on School Buses that mean that the council won't pay to transport your child to a grammar school if there's an upper school nearer. The consultation says that children who pass their 11+ can receive an 'adequate' education in an upper school. How utterly hypocritical of this man to make this comment about coaching, when the cost of transport for a family who happen to live in the wrong place will be a similar amount to the cost of coaching (£20 a week, every year, not just the year before the 11plus exam) for a bus to the grammar school.
Earlofbucks
Friday, December 16, 2011 at 02:45 AMThis whole system is out dated, Has been for years, but it suits Bucks and it's wealthy families. I am afraid it is what they call the OLD SCHOOL TIE Routine. A very nice way of helping these young boys and girls to get into university's and companies that recognize the system and classes. Every wonder why Buckinghamshire never went over to the Comprehensive system. Having been schooled in both myself I would always back the Comprehensive schooling, as in my experience,wealth did not matter and if the student struggled they were helped, on the other hand if the student excelled they were pushed on further. It is harder work for the teacher's but then that's what we sign up for in the beginning , TOO TEACH..
DaveyD
Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 10:58 PMAn out of date system that leads to divide among the children who have failed and thoes who have passed, rich or not should all feel equal.
OMG1
Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 10:52 PMI think it is unfair to claim that The Grammar and High Schools are full of "rich kids". My son attends the Grammar, he received no coaching, both my husband and I work, not to make us richer but just to be able to live. I also feel strongly that it is wrong to coach children as too much pressure is being put on them, if after coaching they pass the 11+ will the parents then pay for additional coaching all through their school life!
RJP
Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 07:29 PMAre we missing the point here? Our children attend primary schools on average for 6.25 hours per day, 5 days a week. Surely we should be asking the question as to why the schools are not getting the best out of children and this time alone is not enough to guide them through the 11+. There will always be children of all abilities, some of which will not make the cut, some that will sail through and the ‘average’ ones that need that extra push. Maybe the whole curriculum needs to be looked at if only those that can afford private tutors stand a better chance of passing and seem to have an advantage. You can also take into account those kids that are helped to learn at home by their parents and those that are left to their Playstation.
LocalBoy
Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 06:16 PMAs it happens, coaching does not help that much. The purchase of a few good books can achieve the same small advantage, without having to pay hundreds (sometimes thousands) to tutors and 11+ tutor schools who, for the most part do very little, are not qualified and just plonk children down in front of paper after paper and have no real input whilst claiming large fees for what is no more than glorified child care for an hour a week.
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