ABSTRACT
The origins of educational selection can be readily traced to matters of social position, privilege and affluence with the concept best considered in relation to ideas of stratification, elitism and (in)equality. Educational selection is one of the recurrent and controversial themes in United Kingdom (UK) contexts. Recent studies of educational selection using data drawn from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) PISA programme reveals the exacerbation of educational inequality, particularly with regard to early age selection. In the UK, educational selection is most readily associated with entrance by examination to fee-paying independent schools, state-run grammar schools, or admission to university on the basis of post-16 qualifications. The pursuit of a selective system of education in the post-war years was not without considerable criticism. Selective education, by design, then necessarily involves issues of differentiation and stratification, capital and, ultimately, elitism.
