extracted from Labour Party, 'Jalking, Points’ —— OOM og 231961, 15° 1963
In the past 10 years there has been a steady accumulation of evidence against selection at ll. Within the vast yenr this process has been quickyned. Tt is now impossible to resd any study of the educetional system without find ing further evidence against selection.
In its policy on education, 'Learning to Live! published in 1958 the Labour Party proposed a radical reorgenisation of the secondary school system on comprehensive lines. In 'Signposts for the Sixties! this policy was rciterated. This document steted that to acheive genuine souality of educational opportunity we must “reorgnnise the state secondary schools on compreh+ ensive lines in order to end the segregytion by the 11+ cxamination which is now almost universally condemned on educational 2s well as on seeiel grounds’ It is based on 2 false view of intelligence. It mrkes suite insupportable assumptions about the existence of distinct types of education. It involves a closed vicw of society.
It is against this background that about 2 aozen local suthorities heve in the past six months decided either to end 114+ selection or to consider doing soe Many Lebour Groups are actively eonsiderins plens to end selection. All ought to be doing 8%
The Labour Party holds that selection is wrong md it will replace it by comprehensive scecndary education, Thore sare clrendy 152 comprehensive scheols in England and es entering for 157,000 children, By 1965 bout ll per cent or more of seoendeary school children will be in comprehensive schools on present plans. The Party has mide it elear the Labour Government would not seck to impose a uniform pattern of comprehensive cducation throush- ‘out the country. Each local education authority sBeuld be free to chose its own variant. The common feature would be an end to selection at clevenae