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A '''comprehensive school''' is a secondary school that accepts pupils of all abilities. Comprehensives have dominated British secondary education since the 1970s and currently educate over 90% of secondary pupils. There is an ongoing debate about the merits of the [[Comprehensive System]].
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Comprehensive schools in [[England]] are usually neighbourhood schools taking their students from a defined local [[catchment area]]. But parents have an element of choice in choosing a secondary school and it is not uncommon, especially in towns and cities, for students to travel some distance to school.
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Over the next 10 years many [[secondary modern]] schools and grammar schools were amalgamated to form large neighbourhood comprehensives, whilst a number of new schools were built to accommodate a growing school population.
In [[1970]] the incoming [[Conservative]] government continued the process. The secretary of state for education at the time was [[Margaret Thatcher]], who went on to be a vociferous critic of comprehensive education. By [[1975]] the majority of local authorities in [[England]] and [[Wales]] had abandoned the [[11 plus]] examination and moved to a comprehensive system.
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In 1976 the then Labour prime minister [[James Callaghan]] gave a speech at Oxford's [[Ruskin College]]. He launched what became known as the 'great debate' on the education system. He went on to list the areas he felt needed closest scrutiny: the case for a core curriculum, the validity and use of informal teaching methods, the role of school inspection and the future of the examination system. Callaghan was not the first to raise these questions. A 'black paper' attacking liberal theories in education and poor standards in comprehensive schools had appeared in 1969, to be followed by a second in 1971. The authors were the academics Brian Cox and A E Dyson. They were supported by ex-headteachers, led by Dr. Rhodes Boyson, who had left teaching for a career as a [[Conservative]] MP. The black papers called for a return to traditional teaching methods and an end to the comprehensive experiment.
That debate has continued since, and the comprehensive ideal is no longer seen as the goal of education policy by many educationalists. Many comprehensive schools have become [[Specialist_school|specialist schools]], notionally able to select up to 10% of the student body. This reflects government policy which states that parents have a right to choose which school their child should go to, depending on their interests and skills.
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