NORTH Antrim Sinn Fein MLA Daithí McKay has offered warm wishes to all children transferring from primary to post-primary education. He also reiterated his view that academic selection is 'out of date, out of step with countries outside Ireland and opposed by the majority of parents.'
Mr McKay said: “All the children who sat the unregulated Entrance Tests deserve to be congratulated no matter what result they have achieved, as do those children who did not sit tests. They all have a right to look forward to a bright educational fu
ture.
“We would also like to pay tribute to the silent majority, the pupils who did not sit a test, and who will transferring into a Post primary school which teaches the exact same curriculum as a grammar and offers access to the same level of qualifications as grammar schools. These pupils too deserve our attention and regard as they prepare for the next chapter in their academic and vocational lives.
“It is nonsense to suggest that those pupils who set the Test did so in opposition to the Minister, there are a variety of reasons as to why children are sitting the test, including children wishing to attend their local school, attend the same school as their siblings and family ties to schools. Grammar Schools have put up barriers to access many pupils sitting tests and their parents support the removal of those barriers
“The testing of children at 10 and 11 years of age to decide if they may or may not enter a school is wrong, it has no proven educational benefit and numerous educational social disadvantages.
“I welcome the fact that the Catholic sector has announced they will move away from the practice of Academic selection within 2 years, and hope others reconsider their position and open their schools to all as centres of educational excellence for all. Post primary schools on a daily basis prove why there is no justifiable requirement for the 11 plus, they provide a first class education and produce pupils who go out into society and become leaders whether it be in a Academic or vocational careers
“The myth that all ability schools will undermine academic excellence has been proven wrong by the very schools which insist on the sanctity of testing 10 and 11 year old children on the basis that they must preserve the ‘system’ - a system they themselves no longer adhere to. The 2009 Admission Grades accepted by grammar schools across the North show that the grade drift continued and that not a single grammar school restricted itself to grade ‘A’s’. The majority of grammar schools accepted grades from A through to D.
