NI Conservatives’ spokesman, Mark Brotherston, has said that we should “celebrate the achievements of pupils who do well” in Northern Ireland and “tackle underachievement in a much more positive fashion”.
“After the publication of various league tables and the subsequent analysis, we should remember that there are plenty of success stories in Northern Ireland”, Mark commented. “There are also some great schools, right across the community, some of them operating in challenging circumstances. It’s only right to celebrate excellence in our education system but it’s equally important not to encourage defeatism or fatalism among some groups of students and parents. It’s also clear that there is a lack of political leadership when it comes to tackling areas of underachievement in Northern Ireland.”
“The education debate has become far too focussed on the transfer test, rather than helping schools where things are not working well. There are proven strategies, like improving early learning, smaller class sizes or mentoring, which could be emphasised, if the will were there. There also needs to be a challenge to parents about the role they have to play in encouraging their children to achieve in education, and on community leaders. A key requirement is a clear focus from the top. The minister has been letting down underachieving pupils and schools by ignoring their real problems and scapegoating academic selection instead.”