Burrows MLA warns ending academic selection would undermine choice as Assembly debates Sinn Féin motion

Ulster Unionist Party leader and North Antrim MLA Jon Burrows has warned that ending academic selection in Northern Ireland would undermine parental choice and distract from the real pressures facing schools, during a debate in the Assembly on Tuesday (3 January).

Mr Burrows was speaking during consideration of a private members’ motion tabled by Sinn Féin South Down MLA Cathy Mason, which calls for a time-bound plan to end academic selection and transfer tests as part of post-primary admissions.

The motion, as amended by East Londonderry SDLP MLA Cara Hunter, expresses concern about the continued use of academic selection and cites evidence from educational experts, including the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland and the OECD, highlighting its alleged negative impact on children’s well-being, educational outcomes and social mobility.

It calls on the Minister of Education to bring forward a plan to end academic selection and to work alongside the Minister for Communities to tackle educational underachievement and close the attainment gap, particularly for children from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.

Defence of choice and multiple pathways

Opposing the motion, Mr Burrows said his position was rooted not in defence of grammar schools alone, but in defence of choice across the education system.

“I oppose this motion not because I defend only grammar schools, but because I defend all schools and the right of everyone in Northern Ireland to have choice,” he said.

“The bedrock of our democracy is that people can choose. That principle sits uncomfortably with the ideology behind this motion.”

Drawing on recent school visits, Mr Burrows argued that parental choice already operates successfully in both selective and non-selective settings.

“Recently, I was in primary schools in Bangor, where principals spoke with pride about parents choosing to send their children to Bangor Academy and Sixth Form College, even when those children had passed academic selection,” he said.

“That school is bucking the trend and challenging outdated perceptions about non-selective education. That is what real choice looks like.”

He rejected claims that academic selection inherently limits opportunity, saying Northern Ireland offers multiple educational routes.

“No one will tell girls in my constituency that they cannot choose to attend St Louis Grammar School or Dalriada School,” Mr Burrows said.

“If they want to aspire to that, I will support them.”

Support for Catholic grammar schools

Mr Burrows also voiced strong support for Catholic grammar schools, which he said are often overlooked in political debates around selection.

“I will champion Catholic grammar schools that feel let down by political representatives who do not stand up for them,” he said.

“I have seen first-hand the social mobility created by excellent Catholic grammar schools. St Columb’s College alone produced Seamus Heaney, John Hume and Phil Coulter. In West Belfast, St Dominic’s Grammar School has produced some of the brightest minds in our country. Those schools deserve champions.”

Concerns over stigma and misplaced focus

The North Antrim MLA warned that repeated political criticism of selection risks reinforcing stigma for pupils.

“The narrative that selection is ‘bad’ reinforces the idea that if you do not pass the 11-plus, you are somehow lesser. That is deeply damaging,” he said.

“In many systems around the world, informal streaming still exists, often without the objectivity or fairness of a transparent process.”

While acknowledging concerns about stress at transfer age, Mr Burrows said reform should focus on support rather than abolition.

“Anything that removes the cliff edge and improves wellbeing is worth considering, including continued assessment,” he said.

“But that does not require ending choice. It requires levelling up, not levelling down.”

He also argued that the Assembly’s priorities should lie elsewhere.

“When I speak to parents and pupils, they are not talking about academic selection,” Mr Burrows said.

“They are talking about crumbling school buildings, the crisis in special educational needs provision, difficulties attracting male teachers, and the pressures on young people from social media and screen time. Those are the real issues we should be addressing.”

Sinn Féin outlines case for ending selection

Proposing the motion, Cathy Mason MLA said academic selection places excessive pressure on children at a vulnerable age and entrenches inequality.

“For many 10- and 11-year-old children across the North, the type of school that they attend after primary school is determined by a high-stakes exam,” she said.

“The very thought of the test causes undue stress for children and their families.”

She argued that preparation for transfer tests often comes at the expense of other key areas of the curriculum and creates division within classrooms.

“It creates a two-tier classroom environment in which some children are prioritised and others are implicitly sidelined,” Ms Mason said.

“That division alone clearly undermines confidence and self-worth.”

Ms Mason said the system disproportionately disadvantages working-class and lower-income families and pressures parents into paying for private tuition.

“When access to opportunity depends on a family’s ability to pay, it cannot be credibly described as fair,” she said.

“It reinforces a two-tier education system.”

She added that children with special educational needs and those entitled to free school meals are significantly under-represented in grammar schools, describing the system as “elitist”.

SDLP amendment highlights wellbeing and disadvantage

Speaking in support of the amended motion, Cara Hunter MLA said academic selection has a measurable impact on children’s mental health and wellbeing.

“As Members have rightly said, the fact that we ask 10- or 11-year-old children to sit high-stakes exams that tell them whether they are a success or a failure… is really hard on them,” she said.

Ms Hunter shared her own experience of sitting the 11-plus and questioned the normalisation of exam stress at such a young age.

“As an adult looking back, I think that it is bizarre that that was normalised,” she said.

Evidence, she told the Assembly, shows that around half of pupils feel anxious or stressed during the transfer process, with one in six struggling with sleep and one in eight reporting long-lasting negative impacts on confidence.

“This is not an opportunity for resilience-building,” she said.

“It is a way for young people to feel boxed into whatever grade they come out with.”

Ms Hunter said academic selection reflects socio-economic advantage rather than ability, citing figures showing that only 14 per cent of pupils in selective schools are entitled to free school meals, compared with over one third in non-selective schools.

“We are sorting our children along socio-economic lines by the time that they are 11,” she said.

“That will go on to shape their lives and, as the Health Minister has said, even their health outcomes. The whole thing feels grossly unfair.”

Closing arguments

Concluding, Mr Burrows reiterated that educational success can be achieved through many routes and warned against removing choice.

“This debate is ideological at its core,” he said.

“Instead of looking down on certain schools, we should recognise that all schools can be excellent. There are many pathways through life, and our job is to support young people on whichever path they take, without stigma and without removing choice.”