Sir Kenneth Bloomfield, from the Association of Quality Education, said he is confident there is enough opposition to Caitriona Ruane's plans that the changes will never be passed into law.

And while he said mounting a legal challenge to the Minister's plans is not a high priority to the AQE, he said the organisation could not rule it out as a possibility in its fight to retain academic selection in Ulster schools.

Meanwhile, plans to provide an equal education for all by the removal of academic selection next year will lead to children from low-income families losing out, it has been claimed.

In a long-awaited and highly controversial statement, the Education Minister told the Assembly that the 11-plus will be scrapped next year.

Ms Ruane revealed that she intends to introduce a system where pupils across Northern Ireland transfer to post-primary schools at the age of 14 - without academic selection.

Education experts are divided about plans for Ulster's education system as it emerged that places will be allocated to pupils based on geography, community and family.

Member of the Assembly's education committee Basil McCrea has warned that the Minister's plans will lead to a postcode lottery - whereby children from low-income families will not be able to attend Ulster's most popular schools. He said: "I think we are going to see a situation where those who can afford to buy properties close to oversubscribed schools will do so and parents who cannot pick and choose where they live will be in a worse-off position.

"I think the Minister's actions have created more distress for parents and teachers. It is a poorly thought-out and rushed decision but what is even more worrying is the fact that this is as much detail as she has managed to come up with."

While stating that the 11-plus will go next year, Ms Ruane has acknowledged that some schools may need a transition period to introduce her plans.

To this end, she said she is willing to enter into dialogue with concerned principals but stressed that the Department of Education is under no obligation to fund any alternative transfer test. The AQE has confirmed it intends to continue with plans to introduce a common entry test in as many as 20 grammar schools across Northern Ireland after the 11-plus is axed next year.

However, Sir Kenneth said that parents may have to pay a fee for their children to sit the test, although he added that this charge would be waived for low-income families so that no pupil will be excluded from the chance of winning a place at a grammar school.

Despite criticism, the Minister has defended her plans for the replacement of the 11-plus: "I would like to say this is a good day for the children in the north of Ireland."