When I first entered teacher training college, the education landscape was very different to that we see today. The academically inclined did go to grammar schools, but those who were more suited to a vocation went to a secondary modern school. State grammar schools were educating hundreds of thousands of pupils, offering a free education comparable to that of fee-paying schools. Unfortunately, those who were ideologically opposed to any form of selection launched a campaign to destroy every grammar school in the country and introduced the comprehensive system. The comprehensive system put an end to academic selection and forced all pupils to go to their local school, even if that meant larger class sizes and inferior education. Under the comprehensive system, we have seen a levelling down, I feel, of pupil attainment. Larger class sizes have meant that there is less one-to-one contact between teacher and pupil, and in many instances, the role of the teacher has been reduced to that of a facilitator rather than an instructor.

Study after study has shown the social engineering project that is the comprehensive system is failing. We have had an accelerating decline in standards and we are falling behind our peers in international league tables.