Liz Truss is pressing ahead with controversial plans to end the 25-year ban on new grammar schools.
New Education Secretary Kit Malthouse confirmed that he had been tasked with drawing up a blueprint for a new wave of selective schools, which were outlawed under Labour in 1998.
The divisive issue is back on the agenda - despite a string of other issues facing schools battling to help kids catch up after the pandemic.
Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson branded it a "distraction tactic" from a Government out of ideas.
In an interview with the Yorkshire Post, Mr Malthouse said the Prime Minister has asked him to look “seriously” at the policy of “looking at areas that want to have [a grammar school], or indeed, that want to expand”.
“We're about parental choice, everybody needs to be able to make a choice for their kids,” Mr Malthouse said.
“She definitely wants to address the strong desire in quite a lot of parents to reflect the benefits that many got from grammar schools.
“What we want to try and do is get to a position where we can fulfil the desire of some people, for a certain kind of education.”
Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told the Mirror: "This is a distraction tactic from a desperate Government that has run out of ideas about how to tackle the challenges facing our country.
“Grammars make up a tiny minority of schools, they don’t improve educational outcomes and parents don’t want them – they want the Education Secretary to raise standards across our comprehensive schools.
“Labour will focus on ensuring all young people leave education with the skills they need for work and for life, which is why we will end tax breaks for private schools and invest the money in driving up standards across state schools."
Ms Truss voiced her support for grammar schools during the leadership race, and revealed she had sent her daughters to one.
“I’m a huge supporter of grammar schools," she told the ConservativeHome website in July.
"My two daughters now attend a grammar school, and I want people around the country to have the choice that we have to be able to send our daughters to a grammar school.
“And I also want to see more free schools opened, so for example the Michaela School in Brent I think is a fantastic example of a school which completely counters the soft bigotry of low expectations and expects high standards of everybody.
“And for me, it’s about parents and children having the choice of that range of good schools. And the more good schools we have, the more choice people have.”
Ms Truss has also appointed grammar school fans Jonathan Gullis, a former teacher, and Kelly Tolhurst, as ministers in the Department for Education.
Theresa May vowed to lift the ban on grammar schools in 2017 but later U-turned amid concerns the move would not get through Parliament.
Tory backbench chief Sir Graham Brady is planning to put forward an amendment to the upcoming Schools Bill on allowing selective schools - and he hopes the Government will back it.
