Subjecting primary school children to academic selection has beenabandoned in most European countries, but it remains a fiercelycontroversial subject in Northern Ireland, writes Emmet Oliver,Education Correspondent.
Educationalists joke that the 11-plus debate is about the only story that has managed to consistently knock politics off the front pages of Northern Ireland's newspapers over the last few months.
While the debate about the exam has been rancorous and sometimes unpleasantly personal, at least the 11-plus is one of those so-called "normal" issues that people long hoped would come to the fore when a political settlement was reached in Northern Ireland.
The debate on the issue also promises to engage the public in a serious way, with plans to circulate every household in Northern Ireland in mid-May with information and response forms on the future of the exam and academic selection generally.
Sadly, however, even the 11-plus debate with all its complexities, has not managed to escape the sectarian nature of political debate in the North.
Crudely put, the nationalist parties, Sinn Féin and the SDLP, are the most vociferous opponents of the 11-plus, while the Ulster Unionists and the DUP have decided to pose as defenders of the grammar schools, which use the 11-plus exam as their main method of selection.
These are the crude outlines of a debate that has managed to stir up considerable interest among the media in Northern Ireland. This interest is obviously heightened because the man who has to make the decision about whether to ditch it or not is Mr Martin McGuinness, Minister of Education.
With such a controversial figure leading the debate, interest in the subject is inevitable, but so far there has been little discussion of the issues south of the Border, although academics such as Prof Aine Hyland (UCC) and Prof John Coolahan (NUI Maynooth) have been involved in providing advice and views on the whole process.
The exam itself is a relatively innocuous affair and tests children in a range of subjects, among them English, science and maths. The performance of the candidates is used to decide whether they go to grammar school or not.
This system of academic selection - particularly at such a tender age - has long been abandoned in most European countries, includ- ing England. Even in Germany which has something similar - children are tested as 10-year-olds - there are plenty of sceptics who believe the system is regressive and socially divisive. The German government is looking at its system after a recent OECD report placed the country towards the bottom half of the league table in relation to academic standards.
In Northern Ireland the debate about 11-plus was prompted after research, particularly by academics such as Prof Tony Gallagher, of Queen's University, found that few students from lower socio-economic groups found their way into grammar schools.
The Department of Education estimates that only about 8 per cent of students in grammar schools come from low-income backgrounds. Mr McGuinness is fond of giving another statistic: in some Protestant areas, such as the Shankill, only 2 per cent of children get into grammar schools. He argues that "if this is a ladder it is an extremely narrow one".
Mr McGuinness himself did not get the 11-plus and he says he wants to give opportunities to students "whether they live in the Falls, Shankill, Bogside or Waterside".
No one doubts the Sinn Féin Minister, along with many others, wants change. The Burns report - named after former Northern Ireland Ombudsman Mr Gerry Burns - suggests the scrapping of the 11-plus and replacing it with greater parental choice, rather than a narrow focus on academic selection. Put simply, parents would decide where children attend school, not exam results.
Mr Burns told The Irish Times his report charted a way for every child in Northern Ireland to be given an opportunity. "Not all children are equal. But at least we should try to start them off from an equal position."
His report, possibly one of the more important documents on education in Northern Ireland for many years, suggests that academic selection so early in life puts children on a one-way road, often leading to gross under- achievement.
The statistics about the 11-plus appear to be undeniable, but the political arithmetic in the Northern Assembly is also undeniable. How will Mr McGuinness push his plans for change through without the support of the unionist parties?
With great difficulty most observers think. "He will have to do a deal with the unionists, and what will probably emerge is some kind of fudge," says one political observer.
Whatever about the DUP, any changes are likely to need the support of the Ulster Unionists. This week its education spokesman, Mr Danny Kennedy, said: "If gram- mar schools have to take all-comers and give each pupil a balanced and relevant education, they cannot possibly retain their existing standards and ethos."
Mr McGuinness, even though he has poured scorn on the 11-plus, is consulting on the Burns report until the end of June. He says that while his views are well known, he is prepared to hear submissions from others and accept them if they make a sustainable case.
Those who are shouting loudest at him are the grammar schools, who have enlisted the former head of the civil service, Sir Kenneth Bloomfield, as one of their spokespeople.
He says he came from a humble background and the grammar schools gave him the chance to achieve in life that would not be present under the system of parental choice advocated in the Burns report. He says schools are meant to prepare children for life and life is a test. "The idea that every child can succeed is pie in the sky," he has stated.
Like others in the grammar school sector - who come under the umbrella of the Governing Bodies Association (GBA) - he believes some students are suitable for an academic path, while others are more suited to a vocational path.
The Burns report, however, says narrow academic selection like the 11-plus has to go. It favours "pupil profiling" which would examine a much broader range of capabilities over a longer period. But what happens when pupils are transferring from primary to post-primary education?
Mr Burns says schools should be able to use a range of non-academic criteria such as whether an applicant already has a brother or sister in a school. He says schools should only take into account whether an applicant lives near a school if all other criteria have been exhausted.
But grammar schools, which supply far more students into further and higher education than ordinary secondary or comprehensive schools, might not be happy about having to recruit locally.
"Many grammars are in or near areas with people from lower socio-economic areas, but they recruit through the 11-plus so they end up with students from outside that catchment. They may not be too happy about changing that situation," one leading education source says.
But Sir Kenneth and others say it is not about this.
They believe there is a danger in making the education system too uniform. That it could mean gifted pupils are not given the chance to excel.