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No compromise from Education Minister on transfer campaign

By Kathryn Torney
Wednesday, 30 September 2009

Caitr�ona Ruane

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The Belfast Telegraph’s school transfer campaign has been raised on the floor of the Assembly ... but the minister stood firm.

During question time Education Minister Caitriona Ruane was asked by UUP education spokesman Basil McCrea why she refuses to sit down and sort the matter out.

Ms Ruane said that her Transfer 2010 policy is in place and that the Executive had refused to discuss her proposals.

Our petition is calling for focused Executive talks to find an agreed solution to the current school transfer crisis.

A Sinn Fein spokesman has also indicated that the party has no intention of bowing to public pressure to take part in all-party talks.

When asked by the Telegraph to say whether or not the party would agree to political talks, a spokesman said a decision on school transfer has been made and it is now up to the schools continuing with academic testing to explain their actions.

The four other main political parties — the UUP, DUP, SDLP and Alliance Party — all gave strong support to our campaign when we took it straight to the 108 MLAs at Stormont earlier this week.

They invited us into their party meetings, queued to sign the petition and also posed for group photographs to show the strength of their support for the Telegraphcampaign.

Ms Ruane issued guidance to schools urging them not to use academic admissions criteria — but did not achieve the political support she needed to outlaw academic selection.

As a result 68 schools have decided to ignore her plea and instead introduce their own entrance tests for this year.

Some P7 pupils face sitting up to five exams on Saturdays this autumn.

We are calling on the Executive ministers to show leadership and sit down together to sort out the long-running school transfer debacle. The Sinn Fein spokesman said: “Sinn Fein will continue to make decisions at the Executive and Assembly under legislative rules as set out under the Good Friday Agreement and the St Andrews Agreement.

“As part of that legislative process the minister brought proposals to the Executive which many of the parties now signing this petition refused to even discuss.

“Parties who now present themselves as reasonable and as seeking accommodation are actually seeking the return of the 11-plus, as can be witnessed in their Assembly motions on the issue.

“They need to understand there will be no 11th-hour reprieve for the 11-plus.

“A decision has been made, Transfer 2010 has been introduced, it is now up to those small minority of schools who plan to continue to select or reject children at age of 10 to explain their actions.”

Meanwhile, Professor Tony Gallagher, head of the School of Education at Queen’s University, has also given his support to our campaign.

He was the co-author of a 1998 report commissioned by the Department of Education which found that there were serious weaknesses within our selective system.

He said: “I strongly welcome the Belfast Telegraph initiative.

“This is an opportunity for people across the community to give a loud and clear message to our politicians: you signed up for consensus government and you now have a responsibility to make it work.

“On this issue, at this time, our politicians face a test of their commitment to shared government — let us all hope they do not fail.”

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21 Comments

I realise that Incas are not the way forward but there is bound to be a way of retaining academic selection that does away with the circus that it has become. I once heard it said that behind every quiet spoken mother there is a tigress waiting to pounce and the way to make this happen is by attacking her children. That is what mothers all over Northern Ireland are seeing happening at present and if Ms Ruane thinks she can quieten them down with her little rymn about eqality she has got another thing coming. I think she should be repaced asap by someone who realises what politics are actually all about and isn't on some sort of one woman campaign to make her infamous mark on our country.

Posted by Concerned mother | 05.10.09, 11:20 GMT

L Saunders- I wasn't saying the incas would be the answer but some sort of regular computerised testing over a period if time to build up an acurate pupil profile. I for one think selection and streaming are good ideas as it allows for healthy competition among equals rather than putting extras pressure on teachers and children trying to work at all levels within the one class. I don't however think the circus that leads up to 'The Big Test' is good for children or their families at such a young age and merely want all our politicians to sit down and come up wth a simpler, easier way of deciding who wants to go down the academic route and is capable. We also have to face the facts that some children and indeed their parents are not interestd in academic achievement and simply putting all children in one big pot will not solve that. Better teacher/ parent relationships would be a start so that problems could be sorted early on and parents knew more about their childs progress.

Posted by concerned mother | 03.10.09, 13:07 GMT

It is interesting to read Chris' defence of Professor Gallagher. The repetition of emotive claims on the 11-plus, devoid of evidence, is what has prolonged this failing struggle to remove academic selection and the regulated choice for competing for a grammar school place.
Burns, Costello and Gallagher's former boss, Bain, all relied on the research evidence submitted to the DENI.
To date the fundamental philosophical issues have not been adequately rehearsed in order for BT readers to know exactly what the newspaper wishes to achieve via politicians. Is it a return to the regulated 11-plus form of academic selection? If not, it must be an imposed form of comprehensive schooling - there are no middle options. Read DENI Circular 2009/14 on Incas for a foretaste of the next assault on parents

Posted by Parental Alliance for Choice in Education | 01.10.09, 20:59 GMT

Concerned mother- Incas provides no factual evidence of how a pupil responded to questions posed. Parents have not seen a full range of the questions Incas might ask. At least with the practice papers in maths & English parents get to see how and what their children have written. The childrens' answers provide an indication of their level of understanding of the questions asked and also provides parents with an idea of what their children are being taught or not taught at school. Please do not be fooled into thinking that Incas provides evidence of ability. Incas is a very expensive initiative chosen specifically to delude parents about their childrens' ability.

Posted by L Saunders | 01.10.09, 16:50 GMT

FJ, apart from the fact that you are obviously NOT a parent...what planet are you on for petes sake???

Posted by MissCulture | 01.10.09, 13:38 GMT

I am the mother of a 10 year old girl who will be sitting tests later this year and having come through the pantomine of preparation, tutors and endless practice papers that leads to this time in a P7's life I can honestly say I am not in favour of the 11 plus being reinstated but I do think that academic selection is a good thing as it puts children of like abilities in the same situation and encourages heathly competition. I believe the problem is the 'Big' test which the children sit, surely there is some way which chidren can be assessed on an ongoing basis using computerised testing like the Incas which could come and go without any fuss and give a more realistic view of the child's capabilities. All this preparation merely gives a false result as the children will not work at this level constantly for the rest of there school days. I call on our politicians to listen to public requests, after all we do pay the bills!

Posted by concerned mother | 01.10.09, 09:45 GMT

A one woman log jam.
Mrs Ruane takes no one under her notice who does not fully agree with her.
Party leader Mr McGuinness gets annoyed when he accuses Mr Robinson of not having a working relationship with him. Here we have his own Education Minister clearly not having a working relationship with anybody outside Sinn Fein!
(I'm not even convinced she has a working relationship with even her Sinn Fein colleagues!)

Posted by T J McClean | 01.10.09, 08:40 GMT

Ms Ruane and that Sinn Fein 'spokesperson' sound like children with their attitude of "The education portfolio is OUR toy and nobody else can play with it...!"

Was all that past negotiation worth it to have people like these making destructive decisions that affect our lives...?

Posted by Merry | 30.09.09, 23:35 GMT

There was nothing wrong with the selection process as it was- Sinn Fein had no business interfering and did so only to destroy it. I hope that Education is taken out of the hands of Sinn Fein as soon as possible.

Posted by wendy | 30.09.09, 23:26 GMT

This 'tennis player' Minister is not listening !!!!! Her job is to reflect public opinion and act on it,NOT to promote her own narrow agenda.
She surely is an embarrassment to Sien Fein!

Posted by Muriel shankey | 30.09.09, 20:24 GMT

To Parental Alliance for Choice in Education - I find your chosen name incredibly ironic given that you are in favour of the 11+. The is no point having a go at Prof Gallagher he is merely stating the obvious as the Burns and Bain reports are clear that the the academic selection process fails children the majority of children in NI. It's time the politicians sat down together and sorted this out rather than using children as a political football. That's all parties including those hiding behind the coat tails of the grammar school lobby. Show some guts and prove to us all why you should MLAs!

Posted by Chris | 30.09.09, 17:10 GMT

Hopefully the 11+ has gone forever. Let the debate not be about academic selection but an agreed and shared way forward for our children. What are grammar schools so afraid of? Children with special needs? If they are super schools with super teachers let them take these children with needs into their institutions and help them reach their full potential. That may not be three A's at A level, which may reflect badly on their rankings in the league tables but it isn't about rankings or schools, this is about the best way forward for all children. If academic children in primary schools can succeed alongside their less academic friends in the primary school classroom then why can they not sit shoulder to shoulder in their secondary school. Every child is equal, let's treat them as equal and not seperate them at the tender age of 1. No to Academic Selection!!

Posted by FJ | 30.09.09, 14:41 GMT

We needed a peace agreement. We needed everyone to compromise. But, it just isn't working.

Caitriona Ruane is as entitled to her political views as is her party. However, there are not very many followers of Communist ideals and principles in NI, well, at least I do not think that there are. When people vote for Sinn Fein, they are voting for Communist policies. Do we really want Communists in charge of Education? Health? Policing and justice? I have been to Russia and it isn't all that great, especially when it comes to 'monitoring' the population and all 'guests'. Always remember that the Gulags came about as a result of Communism. Communism relies upon a passive population, a controlled population. We have had enough of that already.

Sinn Fein voters - please think about what it is that you are actually voting for. A united Ireland is one thing, but Communism is another story altogether. A vote can be a very powerful and dangerous thing.

Posted by WH | 30.09.09, 14:00 GMT

king canute wouldent compromise either but still had to move before tide came in

Posted by w. gould | 30.09.09, 13:57 GMT

The Minister of Education, Caitriona Ruane, has referred on several occasions to the possibility and likelihood of parental and or child legal challenge against systemic inconsistencies in the selection processes for admission to our grammar schools.
Parents and children can also legally challenge the Minister and her Department for claims of maladministration.
Complaints should be made to the Minister and then referred to the Ombudsman for Northern Ireland. Parents can form groups to expedite their legal claims for redress.

Posted by George | 30.09.09, 13:15 GMT

The fact that Sinn Fein are refusing to sign the petition and Caitriona Ruaneis standing firm demonstrates the Dogmatic and Stalinistic nature of Sinn Fein. The reality is that Sinn Fein don't really care about anything other than their idealogical goal which is a United Ireland Disneyland where anything British will be demonised and anything gaelic glorified and unchallenged tregardless of whether it is good or bad

Posted by Gerard | 30.09.09, 12:28 GMT

As a parent whose son is going through this whole shambles, I am highly concerned about the whole situation.The minister has to realise that it's the public who are totally against the new system so why, if so many of us, will she not listen?! As for the 11+, it wasn't a MUST for children to do it anyway, the decision lay with the parent/child as to whether they were going to do the test or not. So I think this in itself was the best option, as it gave the children who wanted to do it the opportunity and if they didn't want to then that was fine too. The whole situation with applying for schools to do the test is ridiculous, if the test had've been carried out in the childrens own primary school, they might not have felt the pressure as much as they are doing now! Also, if the other 4 parties in the Assembly are against the Minister's/Sinn Fein's decision why can nothing be done about the situation?!

Posted by Deborah Lewis | 30.09.09, 11:40 GMT

I find it odd that the politicians who support this campiagn, are the same politicians that are refusing to sit down and talk about this issue.

If they had wanted to sit down and talk, they would have done so already.

Posted by Ed | 30.09.09, 10:54 GMT

It is toytown politics
Most of the MLA's shown in the tele last night signing the petition have contributed to the problem. Only in NI could they turn 10,000 ten year old children into a secterian football

Posted by Terry Antrim | 30.09.09, 09:50 GMT