Proposed new code bans schools from interviewing pupils prior to admission to prevent discrimination
The British government is clamping down on covert methods of selection used by schools to block the admission of children from poorer, less academically oriented families.
In a proposed new code, schools will be banned from interviewing prospective pupils or parents. Nor can they set any tests of ability or knowledge. They will not be allowed to discriminate on the basis of socio or economic background or family connections with the school. Neither will they be allowed to screen out pupils with poor discipline unless this has resulted in at least two permanent exclusions.
Alan Johnson, the education secretary, said: 'We have toughened up the rules governing admission. These changes will help schools to deliver a fair and equitable school system and banish any selection by stealth.'
The changes will remove the loophole in the current rules, introduced when selection was officially banned in 1998, which state merely that schools must 'have regard to' the code when setting admissions policy. In future they will have to act 'in accordance with' the new code.
The new code fulfils a key concession to MPs who last year threatened mass rebellion against Prime Minister Tony Blair's flagship reforms which would encourage the setting up of state-funded trust schools with some extra freedom to choose which pupils to admit.