Pupil selection system faces rigorous examination

Although it is a rainy and blustery evening in Craigavon, Co Armagh, about 40 people have gathered in the town's civic centre…

Although it is a rainy and blustery evening in Craigavon, Co Armagh, about 40 people have gathered in the town's civic centre to put their views to a travelling panel of education experts on how children should be selected to attend either grammar or secondary schools.

Few subjects outside religion and politics stir up such passions in Northern Ireland as the 11-plus transfer tests which, according to opponents, determine whether children are considered successes or failures for the rest of their lives.

Under the 11-plus system primary school pupils, often still aged 10, sit two one-hour papers in English, maths and science.

The results of these determine their academic future.

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If they achieve the required marks they will be sent to respected grammar schools, which generally pride themselves on A-level results superior to those of their counterparts in England and Wales, with a high percentage of pupils going on to university.

Those who fail the exam can, theoretically, still study for A-levels after completing their secondary education at 16, but are more likely to leave the education system at that age.

After publication of the Gallagher report on education in the North, the Education Minister, Mr Martin McGuinness - himself proof that successful careers are not solely dependent on 11-plus passes - appointed the Review Body on Post-Primary Education.

This team of independent educational specialists, led by the former Northern Ireland ombudsman, Mr Gerry Burns, was instructed to engage in public consultations before reporting back to Mr McGuinness in the spring, when he is due to rule, once and for all, on a possible abolition of the 11-plus.

The transfer test is one of those issues that seem to leave little room for compromise. Some parents who have passed the 11-plus, or whose children have, talk passionately in favour of it. Those who have failed talk of the mental scars inflicted by the procedure.

Anyone who has seen a child cry through the night after being told of failure "must oppose this barbaric system", says one father, who is also a school principal. "It's a disgrace and must be abolished."

"It's nonsense to throw out the baby with the bath water," counters another father. "Selection on a meritocratic principle is still the best solution. If you look at how Northern Ireland is outperforming the rest of the UK, you must admit that the current system has a lot going for it."

Parents and teachers in the greater Craigavon area are particularly concerned with preserving their local alternative to the 11-plus.

The "Dixon Plan", which sees pupils continuing in junior high schools up to the age of 14 before selection, started as a localised experiment more than 30 years ago. It now includes about 3,500 children, with many travelling to the area from elsewhere.

A woman recounts how her daughter was allowed to be a happy, carefree child without exam worries under the Dixon Plan, while most of her friends undergoing the 11-plus were put under enormous pressure by their parents.

She also points out that the Dixon system is of great value to late developers.

"Without being sexist, we all know that most 11-year-old boys are completely immature and hardly on a par with girls of the same age. I know for a fact that my wee lad would not have passed his 11-plus in a million years.

"At 14 he sailed through his exams and is now getting ready to sit his A-levels."

A DUP Assembly member, Mr Jim Wells, who stresses he is attending the meeting as a father not a politician, describes the Dixon Plan as "a much fairer system", as its selection procedure at 14 is based both on exams and on continuous assessment over several years, leading to almost 60 per cent of pupils making the grade for grammar schools.

"Do people in Craigavon realise that they could lose their excellent system if a blanket solution is imposed on the whole of Northern Ireland by the Minister?" he asks. "And if he does, could he wait until my 10-year-old has gone through Dixon first?"

There is also fighting talk from the chairman of the board of governors at Portadown College, Archdeacon Fred Going.

"Most parents believe their child is a genius, so there has to be some sort of objective selection procedure. But woe betide you in the review body if you recommend an abolition of the Dixon Plan."

"At least we have given them food for thought," says a young mother as she leaves the hall. There is likely to be plenty more of that to digest before the review group concludes its public meetings at the end of January.