Study finds no age-14 advantage for grammar-school pupils across academic and wellbeing measures
The Receipt · Friday, 11 September 2026
Why it matters
This is directly relevant to education-policy results rather than promises: the study found no age-14 improvement across the academic and social outcomes examined. It also provides evidence for judging whether directing public money toward selective-school expansion is likely to improve children’s measured outcomes compared with investing in existing schools.
What happened
A UCL Institute of Education study found that grammar-school pupils had no measurable advantage by age 14 over similar pupils who attended non-selective schools. The analysis covered 883 children in England and 733 in Northern Ireland, matched on earlier academic performance and family background, and found no positive effect on English vocabulary, school engagement, self-esteem, wellbeing, future aspirations or academic attainment. The finding challenges the expected educational payoff from the government’s proposed grammar-school expansion; it does not show that the expansion has already taken place.
Players & places
- United Kingdom
- University College London
- Nuffield Foundation