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Results of the consultation on the Burns Report
Tony Gallagher
Seminar paper to the Graduate School of Education, Queen's University Belfast
December 6, 2002
Introduction
Following the publication of the research evidence on the effects of the selective system of secondary education in Northern Ireland (Gallagher and Smith, 2000; Department of Education, 2000a; 2000b), the Minister of Education established a Post Primary review Body to bring forward recommendations on the future organization of schools. The Review Body Report, usually known as the Burns Report, was published in 2001 (Post Primary Review Body, 2001). Its main recommendations were that:
- The use of the 11+ transfer tests should cease and the system of academic selection in the transfer from primary to post-primary school should end.
- A system of formative assessment, through a Pupil Profile, should be established to provide real educational information to teachers, parents and pupils.
- Post primary schools should be organized into collaborative networks of diverse schools called Collegiates.
When the Burns Report was published a series of seminars was organized by the Department for educational interests. These seminars were held between October and December, 2001 as part of a consultation process on the report’s recommendations. In early 2002 the Department of Education announced the formal mechanisms for the consultation which ran until June 2002. The report on the consultation was published by the Department of Education in October 2002 (Department of Education, 2002a; 2002b), shortly before the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive were suspended. When the report was published the Minister of Education announced that the 11+ tests would cease to be used from 2005 onwards ( www.deni.gov.uk/pprb/finalreport/ministers_statement.pdf). This decision was confirmed by the direct rule Minister with responsibility for Education (www.deni.gov.uk/de_news/press_releases/oct_02/31.10.02.htm). While it is unlikely that any further decisions will be taken on future arrangements for post primary education until at least the late Spring, 2003, there are likely to be on-going discussions on possible ways forward.
The purpose of this paper is to outline some of the main themes emerging from the consultation on the recommendations of the Burns Report, and to identify some of the key issues that will be addressed over coming weeks and months.
Evidence for the consultation
There were five main sources of evidence feeding into the consultation process:
•A detailed response booklet was sent to all schools, institutes of higher and further education, training organisations and community groups.
•A household response form was sent to all households in Northern Ireland with and copies could be completed by anyone aged 18 years or over.
•A series of questions on the recommendations was placed in the Northern Ireland Omnibus Survey.
•A series of focus groups were used to research the views of young people.
•Individuals and organisations were encouraged to prepare written submissions to the Department of Education on the recommendations of the Burns Report.
The main written submissions can be found at: www.deni.gov.uk/pprb/mr/index_doc.htm while the Department’s report on the consultation as a whole can be found at: www.deni.gov.uk/pprb/finalreport/analysis/index.htm. In addition to the report, the Department of Education issued a detailed list of statistical tables at: www.deni.gov.uk/pprb/finalreport/statistical_tables.pdf. The present paper is based mainly on an analysis of the statistical data.
The paper begins by briefly outlining descriptive statistics on the respondents in each of the categories, before going on to examine areas of agreement among respondents, followed by areas of continuing disagreement.
Response details
A total of 579 detailed response booklets were returned to the Department. This comprised a 40% response rate among all schools, with grammar (82%) and secondary (62%) schools providing higher response rates in comparison with primary (37%) and special (14%) schools. Among the other groups that were sent copies of the detailed response booklet, there were returns from 59% of the institutes of higher and further education, 15% from training organisations and 4% from community groups.
The household response form was distributed to 683,853 households in Northern Ireland and 200,551 completed forms were returned: this comprised about 16% of the adult population in Northern Ireland. The respondents comprised 56% women and 44% men, 81% were parents and 42% had children of school-age. Of those with a present or past link to post-primary schools, 35% had children attending, or recently attending, grammar schools while 25% had children attending, or recently attending, secondary schools.
The two tables below show the age and geographical distribution of the respondents to the household response form. These data suggest that a high proportion of the respondents were of an age to have children and were predominantly located in the east of Northern Ireland, but outside Belfast.
Household response form: distribution of respondents by age
Age / %18-25yrs / 6
26-39yrs / 33
40-54yrs / 32
55-64yrs / 14
65yrs+ / 15
Household response form: distribution of respondents by education and library board area
Education and Library Board / %Belfast / 15
South Eastern/North Eastern / 53
Southern/Western / 32
There were 2,232 in the achieved sample for the Northern Ireland Omnibus Survey, hereafter referred to as the opinion survey. This sample comprised 58% women and 43% men, 61% were parents and 29% had children of school age. Of those with children at or recently at post primary schools, 24% were linked with grammar schools while 27% were linked to secondary schools: while this still over-represents those connected with grammar schools, the imbalance is not as marked as for the self-selected sample responding to the household response form. The two tables below show the distribution of the respondents in the opinion survey by age and by geography. In both cases the distributions differs somewhat from that for the respondents to the household response form: in the opinion survey there are more younger and older respondents, and there are slightly more located in Belfast City and the south and west of Northern Ireland.
Opinion survey: distribution of respondents by age
Age / %18-25yrs / 11
26-39yrs / 29
40-54yrs / 25
55-64yrs / 13
65yrs+ / 22
Opinion survey: distribution of respondents by education and library board area
Education and Library Board / %Belfast / 17
South Eastern/North Eastern / 48
Southern/Western / 36
The research into the views of young people was carried out through the Youth Forum[1]. Ten focus groups, with a total of 116 young people aged between 14-19 years, were used. Of the participants, 48% were young women and 52% were young men; 36% were, or had been, in grammar schools while 64% were or had been in secondary schools
Several hundred written submissions were sent to the Department of Education. The table below outlines the number of written responses by various categories and shows that the majority of submissions came from schools. In addition, the Minister of Education and his officials held 28 meetings with educational and other interests to discuss their views on the recommendations of the Burns Report.
Written submissions
Category / number of submissionsSchools / 166
Public & voluntary/community sector / 39
Educational interests / 30
Political representatives / 18
Business/Industry / 10
HE/FE & Training / 8
Human rights/Equality interests & others / 8
Churches / 7
Having outlined the sources of evidence for the consultation and the characteristics of the respondents across the various sources of evidence, the paper now goes on to discuss the emergent patterns. We begin by examining areas where there was a high level of agreement and then go on to look at areas where there was disagreement.
Areas of agreement
The three main areas on which there was widespread agreement concerned the future of the 11+ transfer tests, the idea of a new form of assessment through a pupil profile and some of the proposed admissions criteria.
The table below shows that a majority agreed that the current 11+ transfer tests should be abolished, that a Pupil Profile should be developed to provide more information to help parents make choices for their children and that all schools should be required to use the same admissions criteria to admit pupils.
% agreeing / Household response form / Opinion survey / Detailed response formShould the current Transfer Test (11+) be abolished? / 57 / 54 / 87
Should Pupil Profiles be developed to help parents express a preference for an appropriate post primary school for their child? / 77 / 76 / 91
Should all schools be required to use the same admissions criteria to admit pupils? / 57 / 69 / 73
The next table shows that there was a high level of agreement on the use of three suggested admissions criteria in the event a post primary school was over-subscribed. The three criteria on which there was a high level of agreement were parental preference, siblings already in attendance at the school and compelling individual circumstances.
% agreeing / Household response form / Opinion survey / Detailed response formShould the following admissions criteria be used to decide who should be admitted to post-primary schools?
(i) Parental preference / 77 / 73 / 63
(ii) Brother or sister already attending or eldest child / 68 / 66 / 86
(iv) Compelling individual circumstances / 57 / 69 / 68
The detailed response form for the schools and other organisations contained a number of additional questions. The table below shows the areas on which there was a high level of agreement. These included agreement on the value of wider assessment information through a Pupil Profile, that 11 years should continue as the age of transfer from primary to post primary school and that the 11+ transfer tests should cease to be used to select pupils at the earliest possible opportunity.
Strongly agree or agree % / All Schools / Grammar Schools / Secondary Schools / Primary schools / Other groupsA Pupil Profile should be developed for use throughout Key Stages 2 and 3 and beyond, to provide a broader picture of each child's attributes, aptitudes, progress and developmental needs / 91 / 98 / 100 / 87 / 91
Transfer to post-primary school should continue to take place at age 11 / 86 / 95 / 95 / 83 / 68
The Transfer Test should cease to be used to select pupils for postprimary education at the earliest possible opportunity / 86 / 64 / 98 / 86 / 89
Areas of disagreement
There were four main areas of disagreement in the consultation evidence. The first concerned views on some of the proposed admissions criteria, the second concerned views on the proposed Collegiates of collaborating schools, the third concerned organisations’ views on the procedures to be followed at the point of transfer from primary to post primary school, and the final area of disagreement concerned attitudes to academic selection. The paper will consider the diversity of views on each of these issues.
Admissions criteria
The table below shows the two proposed admissions criteria on which there were diverse views.
% agreeing / Household survey / Opinion survey / Detailed response formShould the following admissions criteria be used to decide who should be admitted to post-primary schools?
(iii) Parent working at the school / 24 / 24 / 59
(v) Distance of the school from the child’s home? / 52 / 67 / 50
Parents, teachers and all respondents on the household and opinion surveys disagreed with the criterion which would give preference to the children of parents working in the school. This pattern held true when the data were broken down by gender, age or social background. By contrast, on the detailed response form, all schools agreed with the use of the criterion, especially grammar and secondary schools.
The second criterion on which there was disagreement concerned the use of distance from school to child’s home as a tie-breaker. On the household survey, parents agreed with the criterion, especially those who had attended secondary school or who had children at secondary school. A narrow majority agreed with the criterion among teachers, parents of grammar pupils, parents who attended grammar school and parents of primary pupils. However, attitudes to this criterion were mediated by social background: respondents in the most socially disadvantaged areas were in favour of the use of this criterion by a factor of 2 to1, but among respondents in the most socially advantaged areas, opinion on this criterion was split evenly.
The pattern of responses from the opinion survey was more straightforward in that there was general agreement with use of the distance criterion, including among those who had attended grammar school.
On the detailed response form a majority of schools (53%) disagreed with the use of the distance criterion, including 82% of grammar and 57% of primary. By contrast, a majority (72%) of secondary schools agreed with this criterion, as did 73% of the other groups.
In a related area, the detailed response form asked if the proposed admissions criteria should be used in the order presented in the Burns Report. A majority of the grammar schools, primary schools and other groups said that they should not, while a majority of the secondary schools said that they should be used in this order.
Views on Collegiates
Views on the recommendations that post primary schools should be grouped into collaborative networks of Collegiates received a varied response, as can be seen on the table below.
Percentages / Yes / No / UndecidedHousehold response form / 34 / 44 / 22
Opinion survey / 62 / 18 / 20
Strongly Agree/Agree / Disagree/Strongly Disagree
Detailed response form / 45 / 55
On the detailed response form most schools (58%) disagreed with the collegiate idea, including 96% of grammar schools and 55% of primary schools. The secondary schools were evenly split on the issue, but a majority (68%) of the other groups agreed with collegiate idea.
Respondents on the household survey had a very mixed pattern of responses, including a high level who said they were undecided. This mixed pattern held when the data were disaggregated by gender and age groups, and across parents, and parents of primary pupils. Respondents who were parents of secondary pupils narrowly agreed with the collegiate idea, but a majority of parents of grammar pupils disagreed. Respondents who were themselves at secondary school were evenly split on the idea, but a majority of the respondents who had been at grammar schools disagreed. Here again attitudes are mediated by social background: respondents from the most disadvantaged areas agreed with collegiate idea by a factor of 2 to 1, but respondents from the most advantaged areas disagreed with the idea by exactly the same 2 to 1 split.
By contrast, views on the opinion survey were much more clear-cut. A clear majority agreed with the collegiate idea, and this was true for parents, for men and women, for those who attended secondary school (64% vs. 17%) and those who attended grammar school (56% vs. 25%).
Organisations’ views on transfer procedure
A series of additional questions were included in the detailed response form for schools and other organizations. We have seen above some issues on which there was agreement across these groups, but the table below identifies a number of issues on which there was no agreement. All of the items relate to the issue of academic selection at age 11 years. On all four issues there is an overall majority of respondents on the detailed response form who agree with the proposition, but in every case the majority of grammar schools hold a different view, in comparison with other schools and organisations. Thus, while a majority of secondary and primary schools and other organisations feel that there should be no academic selection at age 11 years, that the pupil profile should not be used as an alternative selective instrument and that parental choice should be given statutory priority, the grammar schools disagree on the basis that some form of academic selection at age 11 years should still occur. Interestingly, however, a little over a third of grammar schools are prepared to endorse parental choice as the primary mechanism for allocation to post primary schools.
Strongly agree or agree % / All schools / Grammar schools / Secondary schools / Primary schools / Other groupsAll post-primary schools should be required to use the same criteria to decide which pupils to admit if they have more applications than places / 71 / 20 / 87 / 75 / 82
The Pupil Profile should not be used by post-primary schools to decide which pupils should be admitted / 63 / 7 / 93 / 63 / 62
Post-primary schools should not select pupils for transfer from primary education on the basis of academic ability i.e. by external testing or teacher evaluation / 62 / 9 / 93 / 60 / 71
Parental choice should have statutory priority and all schools should be required to admit pupils in strict order of parental preferences / 62 / 35 / 84 / 60 / 65
The issue of academic selection
The table above indicates that a majority of schools and other organizations agree that academic selection should not occur when pupils transfer from primary to post primary school, but that a majority of grammar schools do feel that academic selection should occur at this stage.
In addition to the detailed questions considered above, the detaile dreposnse form also asked organizations a more general question on whether they felt that academic selection should be abolished. This more general question was the only one on this issue aske don the household response form and the opinion survey. The table below shows the responses to this question. Whereas a majority of the schools agreed with the abolition of academic selection, a majority of the individuals responding on the two surveys did not agree with the abolition of academic selection.
Percentages / Yes / No / UndecidedHousehold response form / 30 / 64 / 7
Opinion survey / 32 / 54 / 14
Strongly Agree/Agree / Disagree/Strongly Disagree
Detailed response form / 63 / 37
On the household response form a majority was against end of academic selection, and this was so also for parents and teachers, and when the data were disaggregated by age or by gender. A clear majority of parents of grammar pupils (78%) disagreed with the abolition of academic selection, as did a majority of parents of primary pupils (58%). On the household response form the parents of secondary pupils were more evenly divided on this issue, with 45% agreeing with the abolition of academic selection and 47% disagreeing. The general opposition to the abolition of academic selection was found among those who had attended grammar (73%) and those who attended secondary school (57%). Views on this issue were, however, mediated by social background. This is considered below.