PROCEEDINGS OF THE SUB-GROUP ON SCHOOLS ADMISSION POLICY
Minutes of the Meeting held on Friday, 22 December 2006
in Room 144, Parliament Buildings.
In the Chair: Willie Clarke
Present: Dominic Bradley
Jeffrey Donaldson MP
Barry McElduff
David McNarry
Caitríona Ruane
Sammy Wilson MP
In attendance: Debbie Pritchard (Principal Clerk)
Stella McArdle (Clerk)
Valerie Artt (Assistant Clerk)
Jim Nulty (Clerical Officer)
Eleanor Murphy (Research and Library Services)
Observing Brian Crowe (UUP Researcher)
Grainne McEvoy (SDLP Researcher)
Jackie McMullan (SF Researcher)
Philip Weir (DUP Researcher)
The meeting commenced at 10.14 a.m. in closed session.
1. Minutes of the Meeting held on 15 December 2006
The minutes of the meeting on 15 December 2006 were agreed.
2. Matters Arising
The Clerk’s letter to the Committee on the Programme for Government raising concerns about the information contained in the letter from the Secretary of State about the provision of information by officials was noted. Members also noted that the Committee on the Programme for Government had written to the Secretary of State to pass on these concerns and had asked for a reply by 3 January 2007.
Members noted the additional briefing paper supplied by the Assembly Research and Library Services on the post-primary education system in the Republic of Ireland.
3. Written Submissions
Written submissions provided by a number of organisations were noted.
4. Consideration of Issues
Principles of Schools Admission Arrangements
There was detailed discussion on the principles of schools admission arrangements as proposed by the Department of Education and the following proposals were made:
It was proposed by Mr Bradley that an additional principle ‘there is a need to ensure equality of opportunity for every child and in particular the need to take account of difficulties faced by newly arrived families and ethnic minorities’ should be added.
There was consensus and the proposal was agreed.
It was proposed by Mr Donaldson that the words ‘and additionally’ should be removed from the principles.
There was consensus and the proposal was agreed.
The meeting was suspended at 10.58 a.m.
Mr Donaldson left the meeting at 10.58 a.m.
The meeting reconvened at 11.21 a.m.
It was proposed by Mr Wilson that the principle ‘acknowledge that schools normally serve local communities’ should be removed.
There was not consensus and the proposal fell. DUP and UUP supported the proposal and SDLP and SF objected.
It was proposed by Mr Wilson that an additional principle ‘ pupils should attend the most appropriate school for their needs in order to maximise their development’ should be added.
There was not consensus and the proposal fell. DUP and UUP supported the proposal, the SDLP considered that this was already covered in the principles and SF objected.
It was proposed by the Chairperson that all the principles, as amended, should be accepted.
There was not consensus and the proposal fell. SDLP and SF supported the proposal, the DUP considered that the principles were contradictory and not explicit and UUP objected.
Members then discussed the following key issues stating their party positions:
Admission Criteria as proposed by the Department of Education
The DUP was of the view that the criteria were too heavily based on geographical location and that where a school chooses to have academic selection as one of its criteria it should be allowed to do so. They were content with sibling and eldest child as criteria.
The SDLP indicated that it was content with sibling and eldest child as criteria, that feeder primary school, catchment area and parish should all be gathered together into one criterion and that random selection should be the tie-breaker rather than proximity to the school. SDLP noted that nearest suitable school would be a particularly useful criteria for Irish medium and integrated schools.
Sinn Fein was of the view that catchment area and named feeder schools should be applied as the main criteria; then sibling and that parent/guardian working at the school should also be included; that random selection should be the tie-breaker rather than proximity to the school; that flexible arrangements should be built in to provide for Irish medium and integrated schools and for travellers and ethnic minorities; that catchment areas for border areas to allow children to go to the nearest schools should also be included and that criteria should be applied consistently across Northern Ireland.
The UUP indicated that it was in favour of feeder primary schools and noted that historically some feeder primary schools are not in a school’s catchment area, that this may present some difficulties and post-primary schools should be given flexibility. The party was also of the view that siblings and eldest child should also be included and that to include other criteria would be difficult to manage. The UUP was supportive of the use of academic selection as an admission criterion with schools being given the opportunity whether to use it or not.
Academic Selection as an Admission criteria
It was proposed by Mr Bradley that academic selection should be discussed again at the next meeting. The proposal was agreed by consensus.
The Open Menu Approach
The DUP was of the view that there should be flexibility with decisions on admission criteria left to individual schools. The SDLP believed that there should be a set menu which should be applied consistently across schools. Sinn Fein agreed that the admission criteria should be set centrally and applied consistently by all schools. The UUP believed that there should be an element of autonomy for schools in applying the admission criteria.
The meeting was suspended at 12 noon
The meeting reconvened at 12.08 p.m.
Following a general discussion on the way forward members agreed that the Clerk would provide a summary of the written and oral evidence and that the Assembly Research and Library Services should be asked to provide a briefing paper setting out the models of academic selection currently in use elsewhere.
It was also agreed that each party represented on the sub-group should provide, by Friday 5 January 2007, a briefing paper setting out its views on the key issues, for consideration at the next meeting.
The sub-group agreed that the Clerk should request an extension to the reporting date from 10 to17 January 2007 from the Committee on the Programme for Government.
5. Any Other Business
Members noted an invitation to a seminar on 12 January 2007 received from the Association of Teachers and Lecturers and agreed that staff of the sub-group could attend.
6. Date, Time and Place of Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held at 9.30 a.m. on Monday 8 January 2007 in Room 135 Parliament Buildings, Stormont. The date of a further meeting to discuss the sub-group’s report to the Committee on the Programme for Government will be decided at this meeting.
The meeting ended at 12.25 p.m.
Willie Clarke
Chairperson
8 January 2007