Academic selection reinforces privilege and disadvantage

The announcement by Education Minister Peter Weir that primary schools can now coach and support pupils ahead of ‘transfer tests’ effectively confirms the formal reintroduction of academic selection at 11 years of age – despite the overwhelming evidence against such a move.

Educational disadvantage                  Reports by the United Nations and, more recently, the Iliad Report  – commissioned by the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister and undertaken by experts from Queen’s University and Stranmillis University College in Belfast – repeatedly confirm that academic selection reinforces “privilege and disadvantage” and recommend the end of academic selection in Northern Ireland as a key way to reverse educational disadvantage.

All those opposed to academic selection – parents, teachers, trade unions and others – must reignite this debate and campaign not just for the reversal of this decision but the complete and final abolition of academic selection at 11.