Crunch Time On 11+ As School Rebels

It's coming to 'crunch time' on education with the latest move in the ongoing - and increasingly volatile - debate on the 11+ Transfer arrangements.

While the hard-pressed Executive Education Minister Caitriona Ruane has already rebuked a Catholic grammar school which has declared it will run its own admissions test, more than 30 grammar schools in Northern Ireland are now to set up a company to manage their own, independent test to replace the controversial, and now axed 11+.

The Association for Quality Education said the exams would be held in venues across Northern Ireland.

It said the tests would be compatible with the new primary school curriculum, and there would be no charge for poorer families.

While none of the schools involved are in the Catholic sector, the fact that one - very well known and respected - Catholic school has already elected to go its own way is an indication of the depth of the crisis.

Lumen Christi College in Londonderry and 40 primary schools in the area were warned that Ms Ruane's department would not pay for the tests or any legal challenges over the results.

However, the school Principal said the Education Minister had no legal right to stop academic selection.

Clearly, the new Association for Quality Education, as part of the much larger controlled sector - which are under the management of the schools Board of Governors (while the employing authorities are the five Education and Library Boards) - taking a similar stance of the issue as the Catholic maintained the employing authority is the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools, is a further challenge to the Minister's authority.

The new association said it would rather testing was done within primary schools and run by the Department of Education.

However, it said since there was no sign of that happening, it will run its own tests.

See: 11+ Showdown Looming

(BMcC)