Pupils to sit AQE entrance test on Saturday morning
By Conor Sharkey
TWO days before pupils sit the first stage of the new entrance exam, Sinn Féin has reiterated its calls for grammar schools to abandon academic selection.
Over 7,000 primary seven pupils will sit the first leg of the exam this Saturday in 34 schools across Northern Ireland. Locally, 79 pupils will sit the AQE test at Strabane Grammar.
In all, the exam will be rolled out in three parts, with pupils sitting two further stages on November 28 and again on December 5.
Speaking yesterday, Strabane Grammar principal Lewis Lacey said that he didn't necessarily believe the AQE entrance test was the best way forward. He added however that the Education Minister Catríona Ruane had given grammar schools few other options.
"The Minister does not, in principle, agree with academic selection but the only way we can continue as a grammar school is to commit to some sort of selection process.
"I do think selection at fourteen years is fairer but that's not going to happen at present because it would be too expensive for the government to change the entire system," Mr Lacey said.
Supporting his party colleague Catríona Ruane however, Sinn Féin MP Pat Doherty dismissed academic selection as an "unjust" system that had failed generations of school children.
"The primary-post primary transfer guidelines set out by Education Minister Caitríona Ruane signal an end to the days of the 11+ and the end of an regressive era which saw the educational and life opportunities of children being pre-determined on the arbitrary basis of two one hour tests based on narrowly defined academic criteria which failed to take account of the all-round abilities of each and every child.
"What Caitríona Ruane has announced is much more than an end to the 11+ or any other form of academic selection as a method of post primary transfer-it is part of a wider transformation of the education system fit for the modern era.
"The Revised Curriculum now being taught in all primary schools recognises and nurtures the ability of each child and prepares that child in a more holistic way not only for the opportunities and challenges of post primary education but also for the opportunities and challenges of every day life," Mr Doherty said.
Attacking those within unionism who have constantly attacked the Education Minister over the academic selection issue, Mr Doherty continued: ""Those within political unionism and other vested interests who claim that the system is not broken and therefore does not need fixed could perhaps explain why a majority of 11-year-olds in the six counties have, for generations, been made to feel like failures; explain why over 40 percent of our post-primary pupils leave school with no formal academic qualifications; and explain why less than 35 percent of our young people progress to third level education in comparison to 72 percent in the 26 counties.
"Changing this long-standing system may be difficult for some, but it is absolutely essential if the statistics above are to be reversed and the life chances of all children are to be transformed for the better.
"We would call on all those who are genuinely opposed to the socially unjust practice of Academic selection to recommit themselves to ending it, not by accommodating further testing on the false promise of ' give us more time and we will change'. The facts are the grammar lobby has had 50 years to change and they have continually held onto their unjust system.
"We welcome the fact that the Catholic sector will move away form the practice of Academic selection within two years, I hope others reconsider their position and open their schools up to centres of educational excellence for all," added Mr Doherty.
