Background to the Research

• DD, a Belfast-based independent think tank, was set up in 1995 to encourage fresh political thinking, broaden participation, and to work in partnership with a wide spectrum of organisations in problem solving; it organised the first citizens' jury in Ireland in 1999. Supported by Queen's University Belfast and the University of Ulster, DD initiated the organisation of a citizens' jury to deliberate the issue of post-primary selection.
  

Research Approach

• The citizen's jury comprised 18 randomly chosen year-12 students from nine-post-primary schools in NI. Over one weekend, the 'jury' deliberated on issues relating to post-primary selection. DD helped plan and facilitate these discussions and organised two preliminary meetings with the students to familiarise them with the citizen's jury concept and the issues around selection. Moderators were also provided to assist the jurors in their deliberations during the event and jurors had an opportunity to question a range of expert witnesses to help them clarify the issues and draw conclusions on the substantive questions.
• Two broad questions were considered:
  • Participants were first asked to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the current system of post-primary selection.
  • They were also asked to consider the best option for the future.
    

Main Findings

• The jurors were agreed that the weaknesses of the current system outweighed its strengths and that therefore the status quo was not acceptable.
• On the basis of the evidence presented to them and their own deliberations, the jurors identified the following strengths for the current system:
  • It promotes academic high achievement and stretches high flyers.
  • The change to a comprehensive system in England and Wales was associated with a widening deficit in overall academic performance compared with NI.
  • NI has the highest rate of participation in higher education in these islands.
  • Selection is unavoidable given that some post-primary schools are more popular than others.
  • The system allows individuals to work with their peers at their own level and in a supportive environment.
  • There are no independent schools in NI privileging the wealthy (unlike in Great Britain).
• The following weaknesses for the current system were also identified:
  • There is no reason for selection at age 11 when all secondary students do the same curriculum.
  • The transfer test distorts the late-primary curriculum, grading is unreliable and the result is not a real indicator of secondary performance.
  • Selection at age 11 leads to a long tail of under-achievement, not consistent with social justice.
  • A stigma of failure attaches to those individuals who do not pass the transfer test and vocational qualifications are under-valued.
  • Options are foreclosed at an early stage and there is less flexibility for individual change.
  • The wider system of assessment, of which the 11+ is a part, narrows the focus of education and does not correspond to pupils', economic, social or environmental needs.
• The jurors agreed that there should be a new form of assessment at age 11, including scope for teacher assessment as well as written tests.
• The majority of jurors believed that, on the basis of this assessment, all students should transfer to comprehensive secondary schools, with students streamed according to ability but with flexibility to move between these levels.
• A minority of the jurors believed that students should transfer to different post-primary schools, variously grammar, secondary and vocational.