Nicky Morgan denies she plans to back compulsory setting in schools

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/03/nicky-morgan-denies-plans-compulsory-setting-schools

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Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, has slapped down suggestions she is on the verge of endorsing compulsory setting in secondary schools based on ability, as the special adviser to the former education secretary Michael Gove said No 10 wanted to announce the policy as a Conservative manifesto commitment.

David Cameron has long been a personal supporter of setting, a means by which children are put in classes for specific subjects based on ability. The prime minister believes it will be popular with parents and help bright children excel.

Gove's former special adviser Dominic Cummings said he had been told Cameron wanted to back compulsory setting.

But Morgan told MPs "there is absolutely no truth in these rumours" after the Guardian reported she was due to make an announcement, prompting an outpouring of criticism from teaching unions, Labour, the Lib Dems and some thinktanks. She said people should spend less time on Twitter or talking to journalists.

It was suggested she wanted the proposal enforced by the inspectorate Ofsted, so schools that did not bring in setting would not be given the status of outstanding.

The proposal was condemned by Cummings, who said it would run counter to the longstanding Conservative commitment to enshrine the independence of academies from policies set by the education department. He added on Twitter: "I was told by No 10 and two others in Whitehall a version v close to the Guardian story. Some had warned internally it was mad." He also suggested there was a launch plan prepared inside No 10.

Sir Michael Wilshaw, the Ofsted chief inspector, has been a supporter of setting, saying in 2012 that bright teenagers fail to achieve top grades in some comprehensives because teachers insist on mixed-ability classes and concentrate on weaker students. Able children are being held back in some schools that do not tailor teaching, tasks and resources to stretch their best pupils, Wilshaw said.

A Lib Dem source said: "We don't believe it would be appropriate to tie schools' hands in this way." "

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "If Nicky Morgan is committed to closing the gap for disadvantaged children the last thing she should do is to divide children into ability sets and to use Ofsted to enforce this.

"This is educationally unjustifiable. The evidence is overwhelming that this practice holds back poor children, denying them access to an appropriately demanding curriculum. Any claim that Ofsted is independent of government ideology will be shot to pieces if the agency is required to enforce ministerial dogma."

In a BBC interview Morgan said she was not a caretaker in the wake of Gove's long period as education secretary, saying she wanted to work with the profession and make sure the reforms that had been introduced worked in practice on the ground.