Plans to introduce a single transfer test have sparked fresh division between the DUP and Sinn Fein, three years after the abolition of the 11-plus.

DUP education spokesman Mervyn Storey said he would soon be engaging in discussions with both the Association of Quality Education (AQE) and Post-Primary Transfer Consortium (PPTC) in an attempt to establish a single exam.

But Sinn Fein’s education spokesman Daithi McKay believes the DUP is “living in the past”.

He said that at a time when some post-primary schools were phasing out academic selection it was quite clear that the “social division of children by testing belongs in the past”.

“The rest of the education system is moving on,” he added.

Currently the AQE serves non-denominational grammars while the PPTC provides tests mainly for Catholic grammars.

Thousands of children across Northern Ireland have been taking the exams introduced by grammar schools following the removal of the 11-plus in 2008.

Mr Storey said his party wanted the process to be streamlined.

“We will shortly initiate discussion with the two organisations, to bring them together and to ensure the challenge that par

ents face in relation to two separate organisations can be minimised.

“I am very clear that there needs to be discussion between the two organisations that have organised the tests.”

It is understood he has already met with the First Minister Peter Robinson on the matter.

SDLP education committee member, Conall McDevitt believes that although a single privatised exam would be an improvement, it is far from being a solution.

“Anything to see one single test is an improvement but not a long term solution.

“Many parents are currently living through five weeks of extremely unfair pressure on their 10-year-old.

“The real key is finding a solution which does not require children to sit an exam in order to transfer.”

Earlier this month the Education Minister John O’Dowd said grammar schools were using the entrance exams as a marketing device.

Sinn Fein — which originally pushed through the removal of the 11-plus — still remains resolutely opposed to both tests.

Following Stormont’s inability to agree on a suitable replacement for the transfer test, the Belfast Telegraph launched its Sort it Out campaign which urged the province’s politicians to come to an agreement.

Background

The 11-plus transfer exam was abolished in November 2008. For over 60 years it was used to decide who qualified for a place at a grammar school. Stormont then failed to agree on a suitable replacement, leaving the Association of Quality Education (AQE) and a group of Catholic grammar schools to create their own entrance exams.