Action needed to fill vacuum in the great schools debate

Monday, May 12, 2008

THE Alliance Party is clear about the need for reform in education, and about the desirability of creating a system which maximises parental choice and which makes the most of every pupil's abilities. As far as we can tell, that view is in line with the Minister's. She cannot accuse us of not being committed to change, or to equality.

However, bringing about such reform requires detailed proposals and an understanding that cross-party consensus is the only route to viable progress. There is, sadly, little evidence that the Minister, or indeed the education committee at Stormont, has come to terms with that political reality. As a result, parents, teachers and pupils are still suffering from unnecessary uncertainty.

Firstly, since Northern Ireland's schools produce the best GCSE and A-Level results in the UK, why the need for reform? The entire school demographic is changing — there is a declining number of pupils within the school system and, as a result, so-called 'grammar' schools are often now so undersubscribed that they accept almost any grade for entry.

This is, in effect, a comprehensive system by the back door — social selection, not academic selection. If a genuine academic elite of schools were to be maintained, this could only be achieved by reducing the number of 'grammar' schools to those which only accept A grades £ perhaps as few as 12 of the existing 69.

Secondly, we have to ask what is the purpose of the overall education system? Is it to produce better grades than England for the sake of doing, or is it to produce a school-leaving and graduate workforce that is able to fill, and indeed create, high-wage employment in modern industries based here at home? Our system works for the former, but not for the latter. The question is how we place all our pupils into the appropriate academic, vocational and technical streams to ensure we deliver the latter. Our judgment has long been that, in principle, this is better done at 14 than 11, and by parents working together with teachers rather than by one-off exam.

For a lot of our teachers and parents, however, the 11-plus issue has no relevance compared to the problems they face on a day-to-day basis in deprived areas, particularly in Belfast. While the bickering continues they are trying to raise standards to the point where their pupils can move on to secondary education at least able to read and write. While the advocates of academic selection proclaim the success of our system, 20% of our school population still leave without any reasonable qualification. This cannot be right.

Thirdly, declining school numbers combined with a declining budget also means a necessary rationalisation of the school estate — in other words, public money must be spent on pupils and teachers, not on school buildings and bureaucracy. In practice, this means shared facilities and, in some cases, amalgamations. This would mean higher quality schools on the same, or even a lower budget, as the money would be spent in the right areas. It also presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to consider how existing school buildings could be used in a system which relies primarily on transfer at 14 rather than 11 — a system the minister claims to support.

What about the 'rebel schools'? The truth is that if schools wish to come together to set their own tests, there is little legally that the minister can do about it. Rather than making veiled threats, she needs to consider how she made such a course of action by the schools inevitable, what she is now going to do about it, and whether she can really generate the confidence amongst MLAs across all parties and teaching professionals across all sectors to deliver the necessary reforms in the long term. It would be much better to secure the buy-in of all sectors for the reforms she proposes — accusation and counter-accusation do not serve the interests of the children she wishes to put at the centre of the process.

The Assembly is to discuss academic selection tomorrow and we now know that Caitriona Ruane is finally bringing her proposals to the Executive next Thursday. Next week will be a defining period and will show us whether the minister's proposals are realistic and achievable, and thereby whether she is the right person to continue to drive the process forward.

Demands for the minister's resignation are pointless until we see her proposals, as we should judge her on them alone. In recent times we have seen an unholy alliance of the DUP and the Ulster Unionists being as confrontational as the minister herself has been. This type of political head-tennis does nothing for the teachers, parents and pupils left in a vacuum of confusion over future plans on education.

Ultimately, the objective must be an education system appropriate for all pupils, clear to all parents, deliverable by all teachers. The minster and all the Executive parties have to understand that the legislative process requires not backroom deals and vague claims, but proper legislative scrutiny and political consensus. The Alliance Party will continue to work constructively to build that consensus, to deliver a quality education system which meets the needs of a modern economy, and which compares well not just with England, but with the very best in the world.

Why grammar lobbyists fail their very own test, Page 33