Academic selection 'favours better-off parents'
Academic selection favours parents who can pay for private tuition, according to a critical report.
By Robbie MeredithBBC News NI Education Correspondent Selection leads to grammar schools "creaming" high-achieving pupils from non-selective schools, adds the Executive Office report. The report was commissioned by the then Office of the First and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) in 2012. The three-year study was conducted by 10 experts from Queen's University and Stranmillis University College. An initial draft of the report - Investigating Links in Achievement and Deprivation (Iliad) - was sent to The Executive Office (TEO) in 2015. OFMDFM was the former name for Stormont's Executive Office, which has just published the report. Deprived of role models? The study examined the effects of deprivation on educational achievement and why pupils in some areas of high deprivation outperformed their peers in other deprived areas. It found a number of factors had a negative impact on educational achievement. Among the negative effects of academic selection it identifies are: However, the report also acknowledges that grammar schools which serve disadvantaged areas do lead to high attainment for some pupils. "The principals, teachers, parents and young people who attended grammar schools were supportive of academic selection," it says. Catholic success? The study - one of the most detailed of its kind ever carried out in the UK - also identifies a number of other factors that lead to poor educational achievement by some pupils. These include: The report states that the ongoing legacy of conflict, schools not being open to their local community and variable pre-school provision also have a negative impact on pupils' attainment. Increasing levels of mental ill-health among young people creates additional pressures for schools, it adds. By contrast, it also identifies a number of factors that help young people from relatively disadvantaged backgrounds do well in education. These include: The study looked closely at educational achievement in seven highly deprived council wards across Northern Ireland. It found that the three predominantly Catholic wards in the study - Whiterock, The Diamond and Rosemount - had higher levels of attainment in terms of five GCSEs A*-C than the three predominantly Protestant Wards - Duncairn, Woodstock and Tullycarnet. However, the report also warns against adopting any "quick-fix" solutions. "Investing in and collaborating to identify sustainable longer-term solutions for the improvement of educational attainment, by involving all community members as partners and building on strengths is likely to be more fruitful," it says.