Call For Academic Selection To Be Abandoned

Sinn Fein is calling for academic selection to be abandoned after reports emerged that the bodies that run NI's two transfer tests have agreed to create one exam.

The Association of Quality Education (AQE) and the Post-Primary Transfer Consortium (PPTC) agreed a draft proposal and a consultation is to take place, according to the BBC.

However, the agreement is unlikely to be in place for at least two or three years.

Sinn Fein's Education spokesperson Karen Mullen said transfer tests continue to have a "hugely negative impact" on children.

She said: "Proponents of transfers tests are ignoring the overwhelming international and domestic evidence that academic selection perpetuates inequality and damages the education system. 

"The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Equality Commission, Human Rights Commission, Children's Commissioner, OECD, the trade union movement and the Catholic hierarchy have all called for an end to academic selection and these calls should be heeded. 

"Rather than looking at ways of combining transfer tests, we should be encouraging those schools that have not yet moved away from academic selection to show leadership and end these damaging tests."

(CD/MH)