The Department of Education engaged in “bullying tactics”, by sending a letter about teachers preparing pupils for ‘11 Plus’ exams to Andrews Memorial Primary School, according to the Conservative Party’s Strangford Westminster PPC, Johnny Andrews.
“The education minister has put primary schools in a terrible position, because they are damned if they do provide coaching for the transfer test and damned if they don’t”, Johnny observed. “To then subject school principals to bullying tactics, with these letters, just makes things worse. I support wholeheartedly the stance taken by the principal, Mr Magee, and the school’s attempts to help children and parents get ready for unregulated exams. Andrews Memorial is trying to make the best of a very bad job, do what’s best for children and ease the anxieties of parents.”
“John O’Dowd and his Sinn Féin colleagues are responsible entirely for the mess surrounding selection. All children should be sitting the same regulated exam, rather than undergoing the pressures of taking 1 or more unregulated tests. The irony is that Sinn Féin’s transfer shambles actually discriminates against children from less well-off families, who cannot afford coaching and it is completely understandable that primaries like Andrews Memorial try to do the right thing and step into the gap. The Department of Education is being run disgracefully. The outcome is unreasonable demands on schools and teachers, who don’t receive the respect or resources they deserve, as well as stress and uncertainty for children and parents.”