NO part of Catholic education should prioritise the needs of individual institutions over the needs of pupils, principals have said.
Thousands of children will sit the second of this year's four unofficial 11-plus papers on Saturday.
Numerous Catholic grammar schools continue to use multiple choice exams to determine which pupils to admit.
The Catholic Principals' Association (CPA), which represents the views of about 230 Catholic schools, re-iterated its opposition to the "unregulated system of social selection at 10/11 years of age which operates under the guise of academic testing".
"No part of Catholic education should be involved in supporting or operating a system of selection which promotes social segregation and inequality," the group said.
"No part of Catholic education should be continuing a practice of academic selection at 10/11 which has been shown to damage the educational prospects of children from our most disadvantaged communities."
Schools, the group added, should not prioritise the needs of individual institutions over children.
"No part of Catholic education should align itself on this issue with regressive forces in our society in order to protect selfish, sectional interests," the CPA said.
"No part of Catholic education should abdicate its responsibility to lead on this matter.
"All parts of Catholic education should work together and in partnership with progressive parties and individuals from across the community to finally bring this embarrassing and outdated fiasco to an end."
