Transfer test: Bishop's business claims 'a red herring'

Most grammar schools have used the test to select pupils since the 11-plus exam was scrapped in 2008

A grammar school principal has dismissed Bishop Donal McKeown's claims that the school transfer test has become "big business".

The Bishop of Derry said on Sunday that business interests "should not dominate the conversation" around the test.

But Foyle College principal Patrick Allen described that as " a complete red herring".

He said the test remains the fairest way of allocating grammar places.

"This is about pupil choice, about parental choice.

"It is as much about those as it is about school selecting pupils, to use an emotive term," Mr Allen told BBC Radio Foyle.

The transfer test has long been a controversial issue in Northern Ireland and there has been intense debate this week about the academic selection process.

There have been calls for the AQE to cancel its test due to the Covid-19 crisis, with many pupils facing a prolonged period of learning from home amid the tightening of the Covid-19 lockdown.

Mr Allen said the school's board of governors believe proceeding with the test is the right thing to do

A single Association for Quality Education (AQE) test is due to take place on 27 February.

Parents pay a fee of £55 for their child to take the AQE test.

A small number of grammar schools that would typically use the test to select their pupils for the following academic year have since decided not to proceed with it in 2021.

Bishop McKeown told the BBC's Sunday Politics Northern Ireland programme: "The public education system has to be focused on doing the best for the largest number of people.

"It can end up ceasing to be primarily a test of academic ability and more become a measure of those who are financially able.

Bishop Donal McKeown says there "should have been a plan B" for the transfer test system

"I hope our politicians could grapple with that reality - when business enters education we have to ask questions.

"When business becomes a major element in educational decisions I think, perhaps, we've lost the point".

Mr Allen said there had been a "huge amount of soul searching since November, all of this school year, on what is the right and best thing to do".

He said decisions have not been "taken lightly or easily".

"At the moment the board of governors of Foyle continue to believe the fairest way of allocating our places for next year is to have some sort of indication of ability," Mr Allen said.

Stormont ministers clashed on Friday about whether the executive should intervene in the AQE's decision to proceed.

Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the Alliance Party - which all oppose academic selection - argued that the test should not take place due to the pandemic.

But the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) said it supported the right for schools to select their pupils.