The 11-plus - the controversial exam which dictates the type of education second-level children in Northern Ireland receive - has been dealt a significant blow.
A new report casts doubt on the reliability of the exam to select pupils for prestigious grammar-school places. The report, by researchers from Queen's University Belfast, highlights major problems with the exam. Contrary to popular perception, the test fails to measure children's ability or potential to benefit from grammar school education, the report states.
In the 11-plus test, almost two-thirds of children answer more than 70 per cent of the questions correctly. "The `easiness' of the test is a serious design flaw," according to the report. Children who have gained 70 per cent of the available marks are awarded D grades. "It is difficult to justify how a perceived `fail' grade, a D, can be awarded to children who have done so well," the report notes. The consequences for the self-confidence of children, who are aware that they have performed well, but receive only a D grade, is a serious issue, the report states. The test successfully identifies the top 12 per cent (A-grade) candidates and the bottom 18 per cent as secure D-grade candidates. However, its capacity to allocate grades to children whose scores lie between A and D is highly questionable, the report finds. Given that only 18 marks separate the A grade from the D grade, the test can misclassify pupils by up to three grades. Pupils from fee-paying schools score better than do candidates from state-funded schools - both Catholic and Protestant. Pupils in schools in disadvantaged areas score significantly less well than pupils in better-off areas.
The report, A Study of the Reliability and Validity of the Northern Ireland Transfer Procedure Test in Enabling the Selection of Pupils for Grammar School Places, was written by Prof John Gardner and Pamela Cowan of QUB's graduate school of education. another report on the 11-plus, commissioned by the Department of Education for Northern Ireland, is due for publication in September. This report, which is intended to inform public debate on the 11-plus system, will examine the effects of selection on pupils, parents, teachers, schools and society.
Sinn Fein, including the Minister for Education in the suspended Northern Ireland executive, Martin McGuinness, has long opposed the 11-plus system, which was abolished in England and Wales in the early 1970s. Critics of the system regard it unfair and socially divisive. It does, however, enjoy strong support among middle-class people in Northern Ireland, and among the unionist middle class in particular.
