Educating for the future - Breaking the cycle
Sinn FŽin joint Assembly Education spokespersons, West Tyrone's
BARRY McELDUFF and Fermanagh & South Tyrone's GERRY McHUGH assess
the impact their party colleague, Minister for Education Martin
McGuinness, has had in the Six Counties.
"Martin McGuinness has now been at the job long enough for us to begin to see his approach pay dividends.
He has tackled the issue of the 11+ post primary transfer test head on. Sinn FŽin has been deeply committed to ending this flawed and counterproductive test that can brand young children as failures and create tiered and elite education systems. This single move will do more to transform the educational landscape in the Six Counties than many previous initiatives. It has the potential to tackle educational inequality by tackling disadvantage, increasing opportunity and choice and developing the whole child.
The Education system in the Six Counties is deeply divided, visibly along religious and gender lines but also fundamentally along class lines - children from economically advantaged backgrounds statistically do better at 11+, in a greater proportion receive grammar school education and achieve better exam results. It has served to compound division and disadvantage.
While at the top end of the scale there are some very spectacular results for the few, the results for children going through the rest of the system have not had the opportunities and choice that everyone deserves.
The issue raised by this point is that of so-called 'parental choice'. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher introduced this concept together with the notion that parents and employers are 'consumers' of the education system.
However, real parental choice assumes an even social playing field where 'freedom of choice' can be exercised. This is of course far from being the case. Those without the ability to pay - be it for 11+ tuition, for boarding fees, transport to a distant school, or for the extra educational materials which would support their child's learning - are denied true choice. They are the parents who do not have the social, economic and cultural resources to take advantage of parental choice as a mechanism for the take up of educational resources.
It must be remembered that on its own the educational system cannot compensate for structural social disadvantages. In a selective system such as this one, only parents of those children able to pass the test have a choice to send their child to any school. Indeed in England it has been found that where a local comprehensive school starts selecting children on the basis of academic ability, other local comprehensive schools will inevitably become 'secondary modern' schools. Here we want to introduce a note of caution: in the political and cultural context of The Six Counties, parental choice regarding controlled or maintained, integrated or non-integrated, and English-medium or Irish-medium schools, applies to a different set of criteria and must not be confused with choosing between secondary and grammar schools.
The current selection procedure was established by the 1947 Education Act. This system was seen as allowing the children of socially disadvantaged background access to free grammar-school education, and thus to University. The selective system undeniably offered the possibility of social mobility to children from disadvantaged backgrounds, most notably in the Catholic community.
However, in the 1980s a new trend began to appear, accelerated and compounded by 'open enrolment': the gap between the two sets of schools in this selective two-tier system was widening, and some secondary schools seemed to be drowning under an accumulation of social, economic and educational problems. Ironically, while the British government was promoting integrated education between Catholics and Protestants, the education system resulted in increased segregation between socio-economic groups.
While passing the 11+ has been a source of joy and pride for many families, it has created and maintained the sense that those who fail are consigned to a second-class education. No one is second-class and no one should be consigned to a second class education.
In early 2000 the Education Minister, Martin McGuinness, instructed the Department of Education to set up a working party 'to investigate the effects on pupils and their families, teachers, schools and the community of the existing selective structure of secondary education in the Six Counties, in order to provide a better basis for informed debate on the future structure of secondary education'. The project team, chaired by Tony Gallagher and Alan Smith, published its report in September 2000.
Some supporters of the current system might argue that the current educational system opens up opportunities of third-level education to sections of society who otherwise might not secure university places. In particular, some within the Catholic working class appear to have benefited from the grammar system (although nothing like the benefits of those from the middle classes). Gallagher notes that since 1973 there has been a marked increase in the proportion of university entrants in the North from manual backgrounds and that this appears to interact with religion. He points out that in 1991 more than 40 percent of Catholic university entrants were from working class backgrounds as compared with less than 25 percent of Protestant entrants.
Many of the findings in the Gallagher/Smith Report concur with previous research. On the one hand, the selective system in the Six Counties appears to produce higher academic. But, the educational system in the Six Counties also produces a very long 'tail', i.e., those who leave school at the end of Key Stage Four with no GCSE passes at grades A*- C (or equivalent).
These figures must be seen in the context of the Six Counties where Catholic males are twice as likely to be unemployed as Protestants, and there is a greater proportion of Catholics in the more disadvantaged socio-economic groups. Moreover, as with selection itself, this commendable achievement is not without a cost. Gallagher goes on to point out that the proportion of unqualified leavers is greater in the Catholic sector than in the controlled sector and that this poorer relative performance is greatest among boys in Catholic schools. This may be partly explained by the relative lack of grammar school places in the Catholic sector. Nevertheless the relatively poor performance of pupils in the secondary sector illustrates the price that many young people pay under the current system of transfer.
Grammar schools have many powerful supporters, often themselves a product of grammar school education. Many parents - indeed one could argue the overwhelming majority given the high proportion who opt for their children to undergo the selection process - recognise, at least in academic terms, the benefits of a grammar school education. Yet the selection test is in fact a de-selection test, as 60 percent of children fail to gain grammar school places. The parental decision to put a child through the transfer test may be as much a choice for grammar schools as a choice against the perceived shortcomings of secondary schools. Selection by socio-economic background (or selection by mortgage' as it is sometime referred to) is in our view as bad as selection by some test at age eleven
other report, the Gardner Report, concludes that the vast majority of Transfer Test results are inaccurate - around 70% of results are questionable. The highly critical conclusions reached by Prof. Gardner reinforces the widely held view that the 11+ is a bad exam. It is bad for the child who sits it and for the education system as a whole. The report concludes that the exam should be scrapped. Many people share this strong view.
There are many difficulties with the present selection system. We need to provide choice - choice based on equality and equality of opportunity and not on the elitism of the current system. Branding children failures at 11 years of age is a difficulty. Secondary schools have to sweep up and try to reinvigorate children who have lost their confidence.
Under the present system primary schools are vying with one another. Principals and parents are involved in a race for academic achievement over and above everything else. Tremendous pressure is placed on children of that age to attain this spurious goal.
Education is a basic human right and we should seek to have a high-quality education system, which is freely available and accessible to all. These are basic principles. Education should enhance the minds, and enrich and empower young people. Education is an investment in the future: a high-quality education system should produce a skilled and enlightened workforce, which could contribute to the economic wealth and well-being of society.
Education can also help to mould attitudes, and there is a need for a high quality education system that will develop understanding and tolerance in our society. These are important principles, and there has to be a correct method with which to go forward - one that will take those principles to their ultimate conclusion. I am not even sure that the present curriculum is delivering that.
We need options that are based on the needs of education in today's world. They should be based on equality of opportunity, where all remain equal from the start of their education through to the finish. They should produce children who are able to face the world outside and who not only have academic skills, but also have the interpersonal skills that are essential for a person to reach their full potential.
Martin McGuinness moved quickly to promote research from the Department on the effects of the 11+. He elevated it to become the starting point for Six County wide debate. Then he removed it from the Department by appointing an independent review team headed by Gerry Burns.
The debate and consultation process that followed is an example of good practice. It was open ended, well advertised, anyone could make a submission through a website, there were visits to a wide range of schools, widespread public consultations and meetings and the submissions of political parties, organisations and individuals could be openly viewed. The time frame was long enough to allow a full airing of all views.
The whole consultation process was a shining example of participatory democracy in action, and the report reflects the views and concerns of a wide range of people and organisations
This means that the report produced by the Post Primary Review Group in October of this year does not just rest on academic research but on a considerable body of opinion. It can be read by everyone who is taking part in the debate, including many people under 18 who have first hand experience and an obvious interest in changes, in the ongoing process of consultation.
This second phase of the consultation process which will respond to the report produced by the review group - Education for the 21st Century - will ensure that there is a real input into what replaces the 11+. The weight of evidence and public opinion will undoubtedly ensure that the 11+ becomes a thing of the past.
It will bring an end the anxiety faced by many young children as they go to bed on a Thursday night before getting up to face the exam. And it will bring to an end the branding of young people as failures.
The Burns report also recommends the establishment of collaborative networks of schools called Collegiates. We will study the report with great interest, particularly the interesting proposals for school collegiates. Without pre-empting our deliberations, the core principle implied by the concept of school collegiates of a culture of co-operation and teamwork within the education system appears to be an important advance.
We will also discuss and propose that feeder primary schools should be closely linked in these collegiates as a mechanism for enhancing a seamless high quality education environment for children and their communities.
Along the way Martin McGuinness has also ended the unpopular school performance tables known as league tables. These tables resulted in the focusing of achievement to academic pass rates and undermined the ability of schools to develop activities that challenged and developed the whole child. Reducing the scope of education for our young people to a letter or grade creates hurdles and closes down opportunities.
Martin has also moved to bring together the seven different funding arrangements for the different schools sectors into one single funding formula. This will ensure a better spread of resources and create easier mechanisms for targeting social need. He has also supported rural schools and the integrated and Irish medium education sectors that have for too long been the poor cousins within our education system. By reviewing viability criteria for these schools Martin has made sure that they have a fairer chance of becoming viable and being awarded mainstream funding.
Martin McGuinness has also announced details of a £700,000 package to create a network of five teachers to provide translation and support services to pupils from ethnic minorities.
This is important because racism exists across all age groups and all sectors of our society. But as a new society is emerging, we have the opportunity to tackle racism within the context the political and social changes.
Our challenge is to change ill-informed and deep-seated ignorance, and I have no doubt that education has a key part to play in this. I am therefore delighted to confirm these resources from the Executive Programme Funds for the establishment of a network of teachers to support pupils from ethnic minorities.
We have to ensure that all our children have the opportunity to achieve their full potential whatever their background or circumstances.
We must address many kinds of barriers that exist in education; some are physical, some are psychological, but often they are the results of social and economic disadvantage. It is vitally important that we identify all these barriers to children's learning and do whatever we can to remove them.
Cross border co-operation is also important and some of the progress already being achieved through meetings between Education and Library Boards in the North and Vocational Education Committees in the South and through meetings of the North/South Ministerial Council.
We share the same problems, but there is a wealth of experience in our two systems to help overcome those problems. We need to share that experience to ensure that the services we provide are properly targeted on the real needs of young people and informed by the best and most creative ideas we can generate.
The education system must cater for the needs of all our young people, especially those who are most disadvantaged, and we am delighted that the agenda for cross-border co-operation in education is focused on topics such as special educational needs and underachievement. Martin McGuinness and his southern counterpart are determined to tackle these issues head-on and really make a difference to the lives and future of our young people.
Sinn FŽin's views are rooted in our socialist beliefs in equality, justice, inclusion and social, economic and cultural progress for the greater number.
We need to emphasis the importance of providing young people with the skills required on entering the world of work. Business Education Partnerships, North and South, already do excellent work in terms of preparation of young people for the workplace, and this is an area where collaboration can undoubtedly enhance the opportunities we provide, for both teachers and young people.
The aim must be to ensure that all our children have the opportunity to achieve their full potential whatever their background or circumstances - whatever the barriers we have to overcome. Martin is personally committed to the goal of a modern education system that is based on excellence, equality, access and choice. We now have an unparalleled opportunity to achieve this objective.
Lift
Branding children failures at 11 years of age is a difficulty. Secondary schools have to sweep up and try to reinvigorate children who have lost their confidence.
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