Sinn Féin want education system based on needs of all our children and young people - Gerry Kelly

By Gerry Kelly
One of my most enjoyable tasks as an MLA in North Belfast are visits to our local schools.
The energy and commitment of principals, teachers and other school staff to provide the very best education possible for our children is inspiring and as a public representative it’s our duty to try to build on their successes.
Despite the successes however, there remains a shocking level of underachievement and the gap between the top achievers and those failed by the system is growing. How can you build a society based on equality when after 12 years of compulsory education around 12,000 of our young people do not achieve the necessary skills in English and Maths?
There are also groups of children who are losing out more than others because of these inequalities and this is particularly relevant to North Belfast given the make-up of the area.
In working-class communities 44 per cent of Protestant males and 41 per cent of Catholic males leave school without five good GCSEs.
Young people who have a disability, or are from ethnic and Traveller communities also suffer from inequalities in education.
Sinn Féin believes it is unacceptable that 4,500 children each year leave primary schools without adequate literacy and numeracy skills.
This simply can’t be allowed to go on. The education system needs radical reform. We can’t build an economy to benefit all our people if educational opportunity is not available on an equal basis to all in the community.
Therefore we fully support Caitríona Ruane’s decision to review the provision for children with additional needs, as well as reviews of the provision for children from the Traveller community and of the growing Irish medium education sector.
This is all part of a strategy being proposed by the Sinn Féin minister to raise standards in numeracy and literacy. The next plank of that strategy to deliver an education system fit for the 21st century is the establishment of the Education and Skills Authority, the most fundamental reform of the education system here for more than a generation.
This single authority replacing nine existing organisations, will streamline administration and make more funds available for schools.
The ESA will have a remit to deliver equality and raise standards for all children, ensuring that schools have the training, support and resources to provide the best education possible.
The ESA will also be democratically accountable as the majority of its members will be made up of local councillors, working on local committees, and it will report back to the minister and the Assembly.
The establishment of the ESA is only one of a number of reforms, which Sinn Féin proposes to modernise the education system.
The outdated Transfer Test has now been taken by primary school pupils for the last time.
It is almost impossible to find anyone who thinks the Transfer Test was a good idea. So why did we subject 10-year-old children to such stress for so long?
Why was the educational future of so many dependent on two one-hour high-pressure tests?
These tests labelled children as failures and denied them access to certain schools.
This test saw 95 per cent of children from Malone Road primary schools, who sat the 11-plus, transfer to grammar schools, compared to 26 per cent from the Shankill and 22 per cent from the New Lodge. This test owed more to social selection than academic ability. This was a postcode lottery in education.
We do not need to subject 10-year-old children to selection tests to put them on an educational route that is best for them.
The vast majority of education systems around the world manage to transfer children without any form of academic selection and produce excellent results. Why can we not learn from the experiences of Europe and the Americas?
It is widely accepted that 14 is a more appropriate age to decide on educational pathways when our young people currently choose their examination subjects.
At 14 they can be matched to educational provision that best meets their needs and abilities, whether that is academic, vocational or a combination of both.
I strongly support academic excellence and want our schools delivering the highest quality opportunities for every child, from their very first day in school.
I believe the reforms proposed by the Education Minister if given a fair wind will deliver a system based on equality, which is modern, effective and responsive to the needs of all our children and young people.