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Caitriona Ruane: Why school reforms are in interest of all children
Education Minister Caitriona Ruane responds to comments that her policies will be detrimental to the curriculum, and explains how reforms will effect positive change across the community
Friday, 5 December 2008
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In a recent opinion article in the Belfast Telegraph Robert McCartney commented on a number of important |issues in education. Unfortunately, most of his arguments are flawed and it is important that a response is made.
I applaud the wonderful successes in many of our schools and I want to build on these. I recognise and value the important work done by principals, teachers and other school staff supporting our children and young people.
These successes however, hide a shocking level of underachievement. Internationally recognised performance indicators show not only that we have a huge gap between the top achievers and those failed by the system, but that we are steadily slipping down the international league table. How can we build a society that is based on equality, when after 12 years of compulsory education, around 12,000 of our young people do not achieve the necessary skills in English and maths. This is the first key step on the ladder to employment or further and higher education.
Some groups of children and young people are losing out |because of these inequalities. In working-class communities, 44% of Protestant males and 41% of Catholic males leave school without five good GCSEs. Young |people who have a disability, or are from ethnic or Traveller communities also suffer inequalities in |education.
These are real problems that have become accepted over the years. It has been too easy for these and other children to |become totally disillusioned and to fall out of education. That cannot continue. The evidence shows we need radical reform. We |cannot build a strong economy to benefit every section of our community if access to educational opportunity is not equally available to all in the community.
Across both primary and post-primary schools we are in the |second year of the introduction of the revised curriculum. This revised curriculum, which takes account of the rapidly changing world around us, was introduced after a long consultation with our teachers. It aims to ensure that all our young people will be well prepared to meet the challenges of our society and economy in the 21st century.
The revised curriculum has a strong focus on reading, writing and maths, which are vital to the progress of children throughout their education. Teachers and pupils have told me how enthusiastic they are about the revised curriculum because it helps develop skills as well as promote knowledge. In addition, it gives teachers more flexibility over how they |deliver the curriculum to meet the needs of children. We have recently distributed leaflets to all parents explaining how the |revised curriculum affects the education of their children.
The revised curriculum will be a key policy in my programme of progressive reforms that support my school improvement policy. These reforms include a strategy to raise standards in numeracy and literacy. I will not accept the current situation where 4,500 children leave primary school without adequate literacy and numeracy skills; a review of education for children with additional needs; a review of education for children from the Traveller community and a review of Irish-medium education. These are not stand alone policies, but interlinked to modernise education for all |children.
The establishment of the Education and Skills Authority (ESA) will be the most fundamental |reform of education administration, for more than a generation. I have now introduced the first stage of the necessary legislation in the Assembly to put ESA in place from 1 January 2010. The creation of a single Authority replacing nine existing education organisations will streamline the administration of education, enabling me to direct additional funding to schools, where it will make a real difference. The role of the ESA will be to deliver my policies in support of the Executive’s Programme for Government.
It will plan, support and challenge education provision. A key priority will be to deliver equality and raise standards for all |children and young people. Schools will be supported and encouraged to deliver the best |education possible for their pupils. ESA will ensure schools have the training, support and resources |required for success.
Because I believe that local democratic accountability is vital for an important service such as education, I have decided that the majority of members of the ESA should be local councillors. ESA will be a single, but decentralised organisation, with a strong local presence and a real focus on local delivery. Local committees will help to identify and respond to local educational needs.
ESA will be accountable to the Department of Education and through me, as Minister of Education, to the Assembly. This will be a fully accountable public body, delivering results for our entire community.
I have embarked on a range of reforms and a modernisation |programme designed to give every child the best possible start in life. One of these reforms is of the outdated system by which children transfer from primary to post-primary schools.
The Transfer Test has now been taken by primary school pupils for the last time. It is now almost |impossible to find anyone who thinks the Transfer Test was a good idea. So why did we subject 10-year-old children to such stress for so long? Why was the educational future of so many dependent on two one-hour high pressure tests? Tests that labelled as failures those not reaching a certain grade and denied access to certain schools.
A test that sees 95% of |children from Malone Road primary schools who sit the 11-plus transfer to grammar schools, compared to 26% from the Shankill and 22% from New Lodge, owes more to social selection than academic ability.
This is the true postcode lottery in education.
We do not need to subject |10- year-old children to selection tests to put them on an educational route that is best for them. A Test that sees children leave a |primary school to go to multiple post-primary schools. We need to keep families together and keep communities together.
The vast majority of education systems around the world manage to transfer children without any form of academic selection and produce excellent results. Why can we not learn from the experiences of Europe and the |Americas?
It is widely accepted that 14 is a more appropriate age to decide on educational pathways when our young people currently choose their examination subjects. At 14 they can be matched to educational provision that best meets their needs and abilities, whether that is academic, vocational or a combination of both.
I recognise that some schools may need time to adjust to an |education system without academic selection.
That is why I have offered compromise and my proposals allow for a three year transition to an |education system where children transfer on the basis of non-academic admissions criteria that are familiar to schools and |parents.
I strongly support academic |excellence and am working to make every school a good school, capable of delivering the highest quality opportunities for every child, from their very first day in school.
My programme of education reforms will deliver an education system that is based on equality, is modern, effective and responsive to the needs of our children and young people.
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Well as a Grammar student myself, I feel that the education system that we have have right now is one of the best in todays modern society. Caitriona says about taking examples from "Europe and the Americas?" Though in "State" schools we see low expectations for GCSE results however, in Northern Ireland we see ourselves in the top 1/3 of the whole of the UK for GCSE results due to these "Academic Ability" exams. i.e11+
Personally I feel that if others are in the right environment for learning and that there is no class clowns to keep us back we shall strive for the best grades possible as it will be "Cool". I feel that the education system that Ms Ruane is putting forward is good and is setting the example for "Change" though, I urge that the 11+ should stay in place and Ms Ruane's Programme should run alongside the current system we have today. For those who wish not to do the 11+ I am implying. The 11+ give an insight what future Grammar students faced when they went these School.
Posted by Louis | 19.01.09, 23:27 GMT
Opponents of non-selective secondary education often claim that well-off people will simply move house to be near to the best schools - the so-called selection by post-code. Can we look forward, therefore, to droves of well-heeled parents moving house to, for example, the social housing estate which sits cheek by jowl with Sullivan Upper in Holywood; or the similar estate which is adjacent to Regent House in Newtownards; or the lower Falls or Sandy Row to put them in pole position to get their sons into RBAI?
Posted by Terry | 09.12.08, 19:46 GMT
Sorry Minister. The system isnt failing the children, their parents are. Only about 30% of a childs educational performance it attribtable to the school environment. While this is significant, having parents that show an interest in their childrens education and who make sacrifices to ensure that they succeed, is more significant. We should applaud the 29% of Shankill and 22% of Newlodge parents who have these values. As for the others, well if they want to go to ballyponza three times a year at the taxpayers expense rather than pay for additional tuition, then thats a market decision, and the others in their area shouldnt have their chance for success slaughtered on the alter of political correctness.
Posted by Plato | 09.12.08, 16:00 GMT
Those children identified as '' under-achieving '' by Caitriona Ruane should be taught by members of the Inspectorate and '' turned round '' so that the New Lodge and the Shankill gulags can compete with the Malone Road. Forget genetic endowment and concentrate on the embourgeoisement of the proletariat to keep the red flag flying high, just as in Moscow where secondary schools are being revamped as highly selective '' grammar schools.''
Posted by George | 09.12.08, 08:54 GMT
Education Minister Ruane. Despite your claim at the beginning of the piece that Mr McCartney's issues on education are flawed you fail to address a single one he raised.
Please do write to the Belfast Telegraph again and provide evidence to counter his evidence base. I, and many parents, look forward to your rapid response with interest.
Posted by M Blair | 08.12.08, 16:31 GMT
Ethan, your ideas in principle sound great. The problem is that one school simply does not suit everyone - we have academic children and less academic children. One school will therefore not be able to help both of them. The academic ones need stretched, and the less academic ones need extra help.
I wish more people in NI would read Robert McCartney's letter - it was brilliantly written and researched.
Posted by David | 07.12.08, 13:32 GMT
Out of politics for two years and Robert McCartney floors the education minister with fact filled, referenced, high quality education research. What have her advisors being doing all these years - just waiting for the people to roll over and fall into line? I think the enormity of Ruane's problems are only just beginning to surface. " It is now almost |impossible to find anyone who thinks the Transfer Test was a good idea. " Well I do.
I worry about the revised curriculum even more though.
Posted by M.Blair | 06.12.08, 17:41 GMT
Why can't children of all genders , race and ability be educated in one school? We have many examples in N Ireland of this being done successfully. Yes, perhaps the Minister has an obsession with the 11-plus, but many more seem to have an obsession with institutions rather than educating our young people.
Get beyond the spin and the vested interests - we can do better.
Posted by Ethan | 06.12.08, 00:32 GMT
While I was no great fan of the 11 plus I am strongly of the opinion that there needs to be some form of academic selection though not at 14.
Lets be honest, there are achievers and non achievers, there are people who are good with their hands and those that are good with their minds. There are the children that have no interest in education and there are those who indulge and learn.There are those who rise to the top and those that fall to the bottom.
This is life.
For a bright child who lives in a so called deprived community there is still the chance to excel in a school of their choice by sheer hard work.Why should these children be deprived of the chance to move on and create a better future for themselves. If Ruane gets her way these children will have no choice other than go to the nearest school which in many cases will be unsuitable.
Come clean Ms Ruane , your ideas are not about education they are a poor SF attempt at social engineering and polarisation.
Posted by Gary | 05.12.08, 23:43 GMT
Its selection by postcode, even the brightest kids in deprived areas wont be able to attend a decent school now. At least they had a chance with the 11 plus...The woman is a dreamer. How it can possibley benifit all the children is beyond me, and most other people.
Posted by Patrick | 05.12.08, 17:47 GMT
One must always remember that this woman's own children are enjoying a grammar school education and taking every advanatge of it obviously after having obtained the requisite grade at transfer test to get in to the establishment.
I am sick of this and the general political correctness in our society that there is no such thing as failure only ''deferred success''.
Society as a whole needs a whole range of skills to function some people will have enormous intellect and will go on to be highly qualified professions others will be blessed with hands that can create things of the highest quality from the raw materials provided.
The only glimmer of hope is that this woman has finally admitted that is at primary school where these poor education problems start and maybe following on from this we might all realise that it is important that parents take on some of the responsibilities of early education not just leave it to teachers or the system
Posted by Robert | 05.12.08, 14:46 GMT
The Minister's proposals simply mean that the all the secondary schools around the Malone Rd will become de facto Grammar schools under her proposals, while children from the Shankill & New Lodge will still go to their local schools. How will this help integration and social mobility? Young people will end up never leaving their own area and will only ever mix with their 'own'.
Posted by ChrisW | 05.12.08, 14:21 GMT
Quote: "The Transfer Test has now been taken by primary school pupils for the last time. It is now almost |impossible to find anyone who thinks the Transfer Test was a good idea. So why did we subject 10-year-old children to such stress for so long? Why was the educational future of so many dependent on two one-hour high pressure tests? Tests that labelled as failures those not reaching a certain grade and denied access to certain schools.
A test that sees 95% of |children from Malone Road primary schools who sit the 11-plus transfer to grammar schools, compared to 26% from the Shankill and 22% from New Lodge, owes more to social selection than academic ability.
This is the true postcode lottery in education. "
End Quote.
The above shows how delusional she is. Forgotten the Household Survey? She has highlighted the importance of proper parenting and environment on the Malone Road, not a failed education system.
What rot.
Posted by J Stanley | 05.12.08, 14:11 GMT
Mark has given a valid summary of the problems one of the greatest of these being where children are unfortunate enough to be landed with disatrous parents, as recently illustrated in the tragic cases of baby P and Shannon Matthews.
Selection in education is vital at some stage whether it be 11 or 14 but the Socialist dogma of Sinn Fein, probably engendered by the fact that most carry a log on their shoulder as they probably failed the 11+, is geared towards dismantling the 11+ and nothing else.
Selection, when disbanded in England, resulted in poorer results as compared to Northern Ireland, and to the growth of fee paying independent schools and its attendant problems. It appears that, if Catriona Ruane has her way, we are to follow suit.
Posted by robbo | 05.12.08, 14:05 GMT
Ms Ruane's proposals reflect the Marxist agenda of Sinn Fein and it is in persuance of that agenda and not anything to benefit our children that is the main (and only) imperative. We should embrace the Dixon plan already worked in the Southern Education Area and not this left wing "come the revolution" nonsense posing as rational arguement.
Posted by lumina | 05.12.08, 13:56 GMT
What I find sickening in Minister Caitriona Ruane's educational arguments is that much of her effort centres around the abolition of the 11 plus.
While it must be said that there are problems with the test, and there remain problems throughout the UK with poor social mobility (or inequality as Ms Ruane refers to it). The relationship between inequality and social mobility and academic selection at 11 is arguable. If for no other reason than the fact that most of the rest of the UK has not had an 11 plus for at least a generation and social mobility there is still measured as stagnant.
What is non contentious and about which remedies are known, is how to strengthen the education of children failing in the primary schools. I think it is criminally negligent not to get on with that job.
Posted by Michael Dubitante | 05.12.08, 13:10 GMT
Miss Ruane's comment about 'postcode' lottery is an interesting admission that in fact the academic drive and enthusiasm from our young people is equally derived from a supportive and positive homelife as well as from the efforts of our educationalists. The process of academic selection does not, as Miss Ruane suggest, promote postcode allocation of post-primary places (indeed, is this not the type system she is actually about to force us to accept?) - it allows those from all backgrounds equal access the best education available, and let's not be shy to say that in any real world we inhabit, there is a range of quality in all aspects including educational delivery.
As it is, there is a hard understrata of antisocial 'families' which downplays the value of education and berates those who wish to strive to succeed. I applaud Miss Ruane (only) for raising the importance of education to all to the top of the local agenda. The solution however is too simiplistic at present.
Posted by Mark | 05.12.08, 12:41 GMT
As a former NI college principal, I believe the minister's proposals are now an acceptable basis for moving forward. No-one wishes to maintain the present IQ-test approach to selection at 11 as most IQ tests have proved to be invalid and useless in terms of predicting future performance, including academic performance. At the same time, most European educators now accept that there should be some attempt to challenge those pupils who are academically inclined by offering them the best academic education available. Here in Greece there is selection in the private sector at both 11/12 and 14/15 with resultant success in both Oxbridge and American IVY league admissions: a much better per capita success rate than Ulster's! But Greece also shares Ulster's lack of success in the non-academic area and this must be dealt with urgently. I believe Ms Ruane's latest proposals are entirely reasonable - and I state that a former pupil of RBAI.
Posted by Dr David Green | 05.12.08, 11:17 GMT