Northern Ireland

January 11-plus date 'would have affected entire school admissions timetable'

11-plus-style exams will proceed in the winter, but later than planned
11-plus-style exams will proceed in the winter, but later than planned 11-plus-style exams will proceed in the winter, but later than planned

AN offer of an eight-week delay to grammar school entrance exams was rejected as it risked leaving some children unplaced until October next year.

Education minister Peter Weir said any postponement beyond two weeks would have a negative impact on the entire post-primary admission process.

The exams have been postponed for a fortnight to allow P7 pupils more time to prepare when they return to classrooms.

The groups that operate the tests confirmed the delay amid calls for the unregulated system of academic selection to be pushed back or cancelled.

The independent exams were scheduled to take place over four Saturdays in November.

With schools likely to remain shut until after the summer, many parents are worried about how ready their children will be.

The tests are run by two private organisations, the Association for Quality Education (AQE) and Post Primary Transfer Consortium (PPTC).

The first AQE paper was to be held on November 7. It has been rescheduled to November 21, with the second and third dates changed to November 28 and December 12.

PPTC schools will now run their multiple-choice style exams on December 5.

The AQE said it had made a "reasonable" request to postpone its assessment until January 2021, but was told by the Department of Education that this could not be accommodated within the timeframe of the official transfer process.

Mr Weir told members of the assembly education committee that the set timetable for admissions restricted the amount of delay that could be offered.

"We went through this in fine detail with the Education Authority and the organisations themselves. It is a complex process," he said.

"You also have to build within the system a timescale for the appeals to take place. The problem is, in terms of placement, it tends to be a range of sequential steps that need to be taken.

"We looked at whether there is any way things can be tightened in terms of timeframe and time reduced out of the process.

"If you were to do examinations in January, you would not be producing results until the middle of March, and even with taking whatever time should be taken, it would mean that for some pupils, they would not get a final placement on appeal until some stage in October.

"Realistically, winding back the clock from that, it really means there wasn't any other option other than to be facilitated before Christmas."

The location of exam centres has also been raised. Children typically take the papers at grammar schools, unlike the old state-sponsored 11-plus where they would take the tests in a primary setting.

It is unclear how long social distancing will be enforced in classrooms when pupils return.

Mr Weir said this was an issue for AQE and PPTC but added that if social distancing was still in place in November and December, then the tests could be spread over a greater number of locations.