As I type this around 15,000 primary school pupils are sitting the final paper of the last leven plus exams in Northern Ireland. The test that will determine which secondary school they attend. Despite the fact that most of the rest of Britain scrapped this form of selection over a decade ago we have held on firmly and proud. And now we let go.I should be happy. I hate that sham of an exam; that overblown IQ test. Some will suggest that it is a fair system, a mertitocracy of sorts. Poor and rich are assessed on equal ground. 'Life is a series of tests' they will tell you, 'the quicker people learn to deal with stress rather than avoid it the better.'
I, myself, have managed to avoid stress most of my working life (mainly by avoiding working maybe) and I hate the idea of the eleven plus. Who wants to be branded a failure before they even reach their teens? And meritocracy? How does that explain the huge class imbalance we have in our schools?
So I should be happy - but I'm not. At time of going to press our Assembly, the people we intrusted with running our wee country, have yet to agree on what should replace the 11+. I have yet to decide what I think should replace the 11+. Parents of year 6 pupils, who have no idea what their children will be facing in twelve short months time, are asking teachers for answers - we don't have any.
While there is no official plan in place for a replacement a dangerous vacuum has been created. Schools are taking it into their own hands to create selection processes. I find that faintly terrifying. The school where I currently work have decided, along with 29 other Grammars, to form their own 'Association of Quality Education.' This association will produce their own assessment papers. Let's face it - they're creating their very own eleven plus.
Meantime all those 10 year old year 6 kids are being batted around in a game of politics. Their uncertainities are being used as canon fodder with which the DUP and Sinn Fein are battering each other. And that can only be viewed as wrong on so many levels.
