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John O'Dowd urges teachers to take real action against 11-plus

INTO chairman Mark McTaggart
INTO chairman Mark McTaggart INTO chairman Mark McTaggart

Teachers should take real action to stop grammar schools using 11-plus tests, the education minster has urged.

The annual conference of the INTO union again condemned the continuing use of unregulated transfer tests, which it said excluded children from some post primary schools.

For seven years now, grammar schools have run their own entrance exams, in defiance of consecutive Sinn Féin education ministers, Church leaders and unions. The last state-sponsored 11-plus was held in November 2008, when this year's P7s were in their final pre-school year.

Meeting in Templepatrick, INTO members endorsed a motion that congratulated the small number of grammar schools who have stopped, or plan to stop, using entrance tests.

The motion urged INTO's northern committee and sister unions to "renew their campaigns against the socially damaging and educationally unsound practice of selection".

Union chairman Mark McTaggart said there had been hope that the heartbreak for children "who over the years have been branded as failures" at the age of 11 would end.

"In October 2002, three years before my youngest daughter, Cliodhna, was born, the then education minister, Martin McGuiness announced the end to academic selection," Mr McTaggart said.

"Over 13 years later, Cliodhna and her classmates now prepare to leave their primary school, and yet despite the promise of a bright, new non-selective dawn, we continue to see the same heartache, where pupils on the first of February this year, went to school worried about how their friends would react to them following the publication of the results of an unregulated test that your department continues to tolerate.

"It remains unacceptable that this form of educational apartheid is tolerated by our society, and high time that the Department of Education, CCMS and the Education Authority put their public money where their mouth is and finally bring an end to academic selection. We in the trade union movement and INTO will continue to lobby against unregulated tests and seek to continue to pressure schools to move away from this unjust and discriminatory system."

Responding, Mr O'Dowd challenged Mr McTaggart over his use of the word "continuing" saying there had been no significant anti-selection campaign undertaken by unions during his time as minister.

Mr O'Dowd said passing motions was not enough. He then pointed to the Catholic Principals' Association, an influential group of principals that has been at the forefront of the fight against academic selection.

"There is no point in warm words or passing motions or applauding a union spokesperson who says he's against academic selection. You need to get out and do something about it. That's the bottom line," he said.

"If unions were to take the same approach in terms of industrial action against academic selection in the same way they have done against assessment - does anyone in this room really believe there would not be change? I for a fact know there would be.

"So let's motivate ourselves to ensure we move towards a situation where there is a campaign against academic selection."