Teachers oppose plan to expand grammar schools

Teaching groups hit out at plans to expand grammar schools in Kent claiming they create a "selective system which labels 10-year-olds failures".

Paul Carter, leader of Kent county council, is drawing up plans to increase grammar school places in the west of the county because the schools are oversubscribed. His move follows 11-plus results that show 5,113 pupils passed the test this month but the county's grammar schools have only 4,458 places.

Teachers' leaders and parents have opposed the plan.

Margaret Tulloch, secretary of Comprehensive Future, an anti-selection pressure group, added: "Instead of tinkering with the sizes of grammar schools, Kent should be arguing for an end to its selective system which labels most 10-year-olds as failures."

Marian Darke, south-eastern regional secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "This is a problem of Kent's own making.

"It has stuck rigidly to its idea of having grammar schools."