Social mobility tsar casts doubt over grammar school revival in England

Katharine Birbalsingh: ‘The problem with grammar schools is that if you don’t have the resources … to prepare your child to get in, then you can be left out.’ Photograph: David Jones/PA Wire

The UK’s social mobility tsar has cast doubt on Liz Truss’s plans to revive grammar schools in England, arguing that they mainly benefit children whose families can afford to coach them to pass entrance exams.

Katharine Birbalsingh, the headteacher named last year by Truss as chair of the government’s social mobility commission, said selective schools educated few disadvantaged or working-class pupils because they struggled to win places.