Schools urged to decide over transfer test plans
Exams body rules out verbal reasoning and says pupils will get extra 10 minutes for each paper
ONE of the bodies that sets transfer tests in Northern Ireland has ruled out using verbal reasoning to decide which pupils to admit in 2022.
The Association for Quality Education (AQE), which intends to go ahead with the tests, also said pupils would get an extra 10 minutes for each paper.
Earlier this month, the other exams body the Post Primary Transfer Consortium (PPTC), asked schools to consider using verbal reasoning tests to decide which pupils to admit in 2022.
But in a guide for parents, the AQE states: We will not be using verbal and non-verbal reasoning tests. We will be using the same type of questions that we have been using for the past 11 years.”
Verbal reasoning tests the understanding of language, logic and verbal comprehension while non-verbal reasoning evaluates problem-solving skills.
Verbal reasoning was used in the old 11-plus exam which ended in 2008.
Meanwhile, grammar schools have been urged to make a decision now on whether they will continue with plans to use transfer tests this November.
The call comes from the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), who said the growing uncertainty is causing concern amongst pupils and teachers.
NAHT president Dr Graham Gault has urged boards of governors at grammar schools to provide the certainty parents need, with current P6 pupils having only returned to school last Monday after missing more than three months of what should be a critical year in classrooms.
“It has always been the case that the pursuit of academic selection as an entrance criterion for some schools has narrowed and restricted delivery of the primary curriculum for many thousands of children,” said Dr Gault.
“If decisions are going to be made to avoid academic selection this year, it would be wonderful if those boards of governors could publish their decisions quickly, to allow our children to have the fullest and broadest curricular provision as possible, given what they have already missed out on, without it being tarnished by the perpetual high-pressure testing that preparation for academic selection necessitates.
“Whatever decision the boards of governors of our grammar schools make, I would, therefore, urge them to make it quickly.”
Four schools have so far taken the decision to use their own criteria to admit new pupils, as concerns remain over the viability of running tests this November.
Thornhill College Girls Grammar and St Columb’s College, for boys, both in Londonderry, along with Lagan College and St Mary’s Christian Brothers in Belfast have opted out of academic selection for a further year.
Foyle MP Colum Eastwood welcomed the decision by the two schools.
“Young people are under immense pressure at the minute and there is no justifiable reason to make that worse,” the SDLP leader said. “The lack of proper schooling will disadvantage pupils, particularly from low-income families who cannot afford private tutoring. Our schools are showing strong leadership.”
All transfer tests for current P7 pupils have been cancelled by the AQE and the PPTC, the two companies which run the tests on behalf of around 60 grammar schools in Northern Ireland, due to safety concerns during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a joint statement, the governors of the two Derry schools, which have previously used the GL Assessment test run by the PPTC, said that young people had
“faced a year of unprecedented challenge” and that there was “no guarantee” that disruption might not continue into their first school term. They said they wanted to “provide a degree of certainty” for parents and pupils.
Around 400 new pupils, split across the two schools, are admitted each academic year.
“In response to these exceptional circumstances, and with a desire to provide a degree of certainty to those young people who would wish to attend our schools, the boards of governors and principals of both schools have agreed that they will not use academic criteria for admission to year eight in September 2022,” the schools said.
“We believe that this is the right decision for our schools and local communities.”
Last Thursday, Lagan College in Belfast announced it was to abandon the transfer test. A statement on the school website added that it “will also not act as a GL Assessment Centre”.
‘We believe that this is the right decision for Lagan College to take and that this is in keeping with our inclusive and all ability ethos’