BY AILEEN MURPHY

The principals of around 90 Catholic post-primary secondary schools, including some in Fermanagh have given their backing to the establishment of a group who will press for the ending of academic selection.

A conference of principals from non-selective schools across the North was held in Cookstown this week. At the conference, the group welcomed what it sees as 'the acceptance by all partners in the Catholic family of schools of an end to 'academic selection'.

They also described the debate surrounding post-primary provision as having entered the 'new and much more relevant territory of the types of provision that will service a post-selection era.'

The Group stated its 'clear and unequivocal support' for immediate implementation of Minister of Education, Caitríona Ruane's February guidelines for admission criteria.

One of the organisers of the conference explained: "The availability to schools of the Minister's admissions' criteria makes testing superfluous and unnecessary. Our schools have no difficulty with such criteria nor should any Catholic post-primary school."

There was unanimous endorsement of a proposal to set up an association of post-primary principals from Catholic schools across the North. Such an association could constitute the largest single group of post-primary principals in the north of Ireland.

And the spokesperson explained: "This new association will speak for those whose views have not yet been adequately heard amid the din surrounding deliberations and decisions of a minority of schools."

However, all the Catholic Grammar Schools in Fermanagh have already indicated they will defy the Minister and set their own entrance exams. There was controversy surrounding this plan in recent days when the organisation which had been believed to be setting the entrance test favoured by the schools indicated they were not actually involved with the exam.

A number of Grammar Schools here, including St Michael's College, Mount Lourdes Grammar School, and Portora Royal had indicated their entrance exams would be set by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). However, NFER has since responded to this claim stating it is not devising, monitoring or overseeing any such tests in Northern Ireland.

In now appears the tests may be set by a partner organisation of NFER called GL Assessment which has said it is in discussion with schools here over the assessments.

While GL Assessments often works in partnership with NFER, they are separate organisations.