Written evidence from the Belfast Royal
Academy
I am writing to you in your capacity as Chairman
of the Northern Ireland Select Committee to convey the deep concerns
of many within the grammar school community in the Province about
pending changes in our system of post-primary education.
The Government has indicated that in the new
session of Parliament it is determined to introduce legislation
to give effect to proposals outlined in the Burns Report of October
2001 and detailed in the report of the Costello Post-Primary Review
Working group in January 2004.
I do not propose to list the manifold objections
which we have to the introduction of what in essence is a comprehensive
system and the adverse effect which this is likely to have on
our educational standards but to bring to your attention two aspects
which perhaps you might feel were appropriate matters for consideration
by your committee.
1. By pressing ahead with this legislation
the Government will be compounding the democratic deficit inherent
in direct rule administration. Although opposed to the existing
Transfer Test (the 11+) parents and teachers, by a majority of
2-1 in a survey of households commissioned by the Department of
Education (Northern Ireland) in 2002, called for the retention
of some form of academic selection—a preference consistently
confirmed by subsequent opinion polls commissioned by the media.
While Ministers in the Northern Ireland Office have indicated
previously that they would not impose conditions on fox hunting
or on smoking in public places that ran counter to local opinion,
surely the same principle should be applied and the will of the
people respected in regard to education. I might add that many
of us who believe that the issue should be determined by locally
accountable politicians find the Government's determination to
press ahead all the more surprising as the prospect of a return
to devolved government next year is now judged, in the light of
recent political developments, by many commentators to be brighter
than for some considerable time.
2. The method being proposed for the transfer
of pupils to post-primary schools is parental choice based on
a pupil profile, essentially subjective in character, compiled
by primary teachers. I am advised by Dr Hugh Morrison of the School
of Education at the Queen's University, Belfast that as a guide
for parents in choosing a school most suited to their children's
abilities the profile currently devised is fundamentally deficient
and fails virtually every known international standard on validity
and reliability. He is also of the opinion that the flaws are
conceptual and are incapable of being rectified through modification.
I enclose a copy of Dr Morrison's paper, which also outlines an
alternative methodology that has been tried and tested over four
decades, for your consideration (not printed).
W S F Young
Headmaster
11 October 2005
| 
