MONDAY 27 MARCH
Documentary
The Schools Lottery
7:00pm - 8:00pm
BBC2 London & South East
VIDEO Plus+: 1843
Subtitled, Widescreen
1/2
The issue of schools selecting pupils is currently a hot potato, which makes this look at the workings of the 11-plus exam in the 1950s and 60s topical. It's not so much a history of postwar social engineering as a series of personal reflections from the likes of Nick Ross, Sue Lawley and Jackie Charlton on what the 11-plus meant to them. The exam sorted sheep from goats in a particular way, favouring middleclass kids over working-class, boys over girls and thinkers over doers. Children whose skills were practical, like the inventor Trevor Baylis, were branded failures and sent to secondary moderns. It's this perceived unfairness that still lies at the heart of the selection controversy.
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