To ask the Minister of Education what alternative data he has recommended to schools to use as a proxy for academic criteria in post-primary admissions.

Mr Weir

The use of academic selection in their admissions criteria is a decision for boards of governors. It is not something that is just their general responsibility. They have the legal authority.

I have therefore reminded schools that are considering using academic selection or, indeed, any form of criteria, particularly in the absence of the Association for Quality Education (AQE) and Post Primary Transfer Consortium (PPTC) assessments, that they should ensure that any alternative approaches are robust and are supported by legal advice and that the process that they have adopted can clearly and objectively select pupils for admission. There is no single set of criteria that we have been recommending to schools.

Mr Weir

There are a number of reasons for that. With regard to that direction, the Member mentioned the Education Order. The power for the Department to direct in those circumstances can be triggered only when the Assembly has taken a vote on whether it wishes academic or non-academic criteria to be used. It can be triggered only once that decision is made. Therefore, that power is not open to the Department directly unless some previous steps have been taken. Looking across and around the Chamber, I suspect that a consensus on whether to have academic selection or not will elude us for many a year. The Coronavirus Act deals principally with the measures to be taken with regard to childcare in schools, opening or closure, directions for opening and the means. To stretch that in order to put in place what the criteria should be would be legally questionable and, certainly, would be beyond the intention of the Coronavirus Act. The other factor is that, politically and, indeed, between schools, there is no consensus on what the criteria should be. There are a wide range of schools, some of which are keen to embrace academic selection — there is a legal right for them to do that — and some of which would never support academic selection at all. The Member needs to be aware that, if we were to impose criteria on schools against their will, we would have to square that circle as well. Boards of governors have the legal authority to set their criteria. We may have different views on what the ideal criteria should be. Guidance is given on what is reasonable and unreasonable, particularly with regard to academic criteria, but it would certainly be beyond the powers of the Department or myself to impose a one-size-fits-all solution on that basis. I do not believe that there is consensus at any level on what those criteria should be.

Mr Lynch

Following the cancellation of the transfer test, the Minister commented that that would limit children's opportunities. Recently, he visited St Kevin's College, Lisnaskea, with me. It is the best non-selective school in the North of Ireland and outperforms some of the grammar schools. A number of my family, my nieces and nephews, went to the school, and they all went on to third-level education. There were no limits to their education. The Minister's comments were deeply insulting to a majority of those involved in the education system. Will he take the opportunity to withdraw those remarks and apologise to teachers, staff and the pupils who are educated in non-selective schools such as St Kevin's College, Lisnaskea?

Mr Weir

I am well aware of the excellent work that is done in St Kevin's College and other schools across the sector, be they selective or non-selective — or academically selective or non-selective, I should more accurately say, because all schools will employ some level of selection in that regard and do excellent work. From that point of view, I did not make myself as clear as I should have done and apologise for any offence that was caused. What I meant to say — a peril of social media is that your meaning does not always get across — was that, where any pupil is limited in trying to get to the school that they want to get to by factors that are outside their control, that is some level of reduction of opportunity, whether it is a selective school, St Kevin's College or any school. That was the message. I apologise if the language that I used was somewhat clumsy. We have a system that delivers very well for pupils across all post-primary schools. There is always room for improvement, but, when you compare our performance with that of jurisdictions nearby, you will see that there are excellent opportunities for all here. I feel for any family that is looking to get a child into a particular school and has the door to that school, wherever it is and whatever sector it is in, effectively closed due to circumstances beyond its control.

Mr Butler

Thank you, Minister, for your answer. I thank the Member who asked question. It is a perfect question and is on the issue that has probably caused me most pain during my time on the Education Committee. We have failed 16,000 pupils who, in good faith, were entered for the AQE and GL tests. Had the Minister had the courage, he would have got cross-party support, even from the parties that oppose academic selection, and could have used the coronavirus legislation. That being the case and the disappointment having been caused, what is the Minister doing for those in the P6 cohort, who face doing the exam in November, to protect their rights under the admissions criteria, which exist and have legislative power, to make sure that this debacle is not revisited in November 2021?

Mr Weir

Ultimately, it is still up to boards of governors to decide on selection. As we move into the spring and beyond, we hope that the situation will have eased considerably. It is noticeable that the vast bulk of schools that had been academically selective but moved away from it this year have since, more or less uniformly, indicated that they want to move back to some form of academic selection, which will be available. Although the Member made very well-intentioned efforts to find a solution, for which I strongly commend him, the problem that many schools found, particularly when they sought advice — we advised them to seek their own advice — that the methodologies for using alternative data were not particularly robust. A small number of schools have used alternative data, but that perhaps explains why the vast majority of schools that are normally academically selective have been reluctant to go down that route. The advice that they have received, particularly from a legal point of view, is that it would be open to challenge. There is an opportunity for better preparation for November, and I trust that we will be in a better position then across the board to facilitate choices, regardless of the direction that they come from.