‘Every student a winner’ through non-selective education – Bishop McKeown

Staff reporter

Bishop Donal McKeown of Derry has said that the early division of school children through testing “damages educational outcomes of our society”.

Speaking last week as he blessed the new extension at All Saints Primary School in Tattysallagh in Co. Tyrone, Bishop McKeown stressed the long-term value of non-selective education for all students, “because real and life-affirming education is not about working out how smart you are but rather it is about discovering how you are smart”.

“The evidence suggests that…an early division of children actually damages educational outcomes of our society,” he continued. 

Approach

Pointing to the 11-plus exam as of a time when most people left school at the age of 14 “and the exam enabled a small number of the selected for secondary education,” the bishop said, “I have seen a non-selective seamless approach to the transfer from primary school, and I know that it is both a huge relief to the primary schools and can be a successful experience for the young people.”