Independent Review of Education in Northern Ireland will hopefully be first step to ending academic selection, says Alliance Party

The panel chairman was Dr Keir Bloomer, who said yesterday that education in Northern Ireland has “suffered from years of underfunding” with his report calling for an immediate increase to NI’s education budget of £291m annually.

The report made a series of recommendations to create a seamless transition and “reduce differences between academically selective and non-selective schools, and move towards greater parity of esteem between different types of schools”.

It recommended the pupil transfer process at age 11 should be reformed to:

l Quickly move away from a single test and instead use a broader pupil profile compiled over time which goes “beyond numeracy and literacy and [should be] be consistent with the aims of the curriculum”;

l Limit the number of students transferring to post-primary schools based on academic selection to around 25-30% of year eight pupils;

l Ensure that schools that are selecting pupils using academic criteria must first give priority to pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM). The report says the percentage of students admitted through selection and who are eligible for FSM reflects the proportion of applications received from FSM-eligible students;

l Eliminate the formal application process for schools to change their approach to academic selection.

Welcoming the report, Alliance education spokesperson Nick Mathison MLA said his party has long advocated for “a single, integrated education system, delivering equality of opportunity for all, regardless of community and socioeconomic background, but also removing the competitive nature built into our current sectoral system”.

He added: “It was particularly welcome to see the acknowledgement of the pressing need to reform our transfer system and cap the number of children transferring based on academic criteria. We hope this will act as a first step towards the removal of academic selection at primary school age in its entirety.”

The report also made a series of other recommendations for significant changes:

l An expansion to early years education as the most effective way to overcome socioeconomic disadvantage;

l Thorough urgent reform of Special educational needs (SEN) provision;

l The eventual replacement of classroom assistants with fully trained and qualified teachers, other professionals or upskilled classroom assistants;

l A special commission to look at closing all unviable schools;

l Raising to the school leaving to 18;

l Vocational pathways starting at age 14;

l A single education department which would absorb further and higher education functions from the Department for the Economy.

DUP education spokesperson Diane Dodds welcomed the final report which was commissioned by former DUP education minister Peter Weir.

“The review is wide-ranging and we will take time to study it in detail,” she said.​