Good luck - 11 transfer Northern Ireland

Dylanesque

Newly registered on this site and puzzled as to what this thread has to do with local moneysaving!
As regards the performance of the NI education system the recent OECD PISA report comparing performance of 15 year olds across the world indicates that the NI performance as an education system is on a par with England and Scotland and ahead of Wales.
Interestingly the highest performing countries such as Finland do not have selection at 11 years old!
I wonder why this information received little or no coverage in our local news media?

sandraann

My son did the aqe test this year and thankfully did well enough to get to his chosen grammar school.I'm confident of this because the grammar school sent us a letter last week telling us what they needed to get a definite place and a further score bracket for very likely to get in. This has been a great help and particularly as the primary school has totally cold shouldered any parents who chose to let their children do tests.I've been personally shocked at the alienation and confusion, some of which no doubt comes from him having attended an integrated primary school and the school favouring a local integrated secondary.i've convinced the new system favours the assertive,well educated middle class parent with time on their hands and cash for tutoring.

Awec

Martin_Chambers wrote: »

Really I suppose you are referring to the wonderful numeracy and literacy standards produced by primary schools. There are still some 20% of children leaving primary education failing to meet basic standards of numeracy and literacy. I do so enjoy the contributions of those so clearly ignorant of the problems or their solutions. Who exactly does benefit- the teachers and other feeders at the public trough or the pupils. If you are not taught to read your future is bleak since you cannot be taught or learn about other subjects .

I reckon you're making this up as you go along.

Education in NI works.

sandraann

As an ex trainer / tutor on the old JTP and YTP schemes I would have to say that there were the high achievers who sailed through the system and the extreme non achievers at the other end of the spectrum. We had a young man who was severely dyslexic and at the age of 19 had never received any additional assistance through any of his education, neither has his problem been recognised.At secondary school the sports pitch needed drained and he had spent 3 years along with the other low achievers digging drains.
He has amazing technical expertise and had developed a system of almost hieroglyphic like characters to get him through class. He finally did receive help and completed a btec in an electronics course but there are many similar horror stories and i couldn't hold up our entire education system as excellent.If so I doubt if i would have spent 3 Saturdays taking a child to do aqe tests.

Martin_Chambers

Dylanesque wrote: »

Newly registered on this site and puzzled as to what this thread has to do with local moneysaving!
As regards the performance of the NI education system the recent OECD PISA report comparing performance of 15 year olds across the world indicates that the NI performance as an education system is on a par with England and Scotland and ahead of Wales.
Interestingly the highest performing countries such as Finland do not have selection at 11 years old!
I wonder why this information received little or no coverage in our local news media?

Please tell parents more about your findings on PISA. How are comparisons made between countries especially when the culture, language and secondary level education systems are all different? Should we demand that the UK reduce the available hours of light during winter, give all pupils a hot free meal at school and improve our ranking of alcoholism to mimic Finland too?

I believe that country comparisons were not advised by those who produce PISA -the OECD. Martin McGuinness was the first to ignore it but now it seems everyone is at it. I'd rather have a slice of pizza myself - better value for money. Last time I checked it cost the taxpayer about £85 per pupil in N.I. Is this really money well spent? This forum is on the MoneySavingExpert site - how about a little debate on how education funding in N.I. is spent, after all it's only around £2 BILLION per year.

steveymp

Dylanesque wrote: »

Newly registered on this site and puzzled as to what this thread has to do with local moneysaving!
As regards the performance of the NI education system the recent OECD PISA report comparing performance of 15 year olds across the world indicates that the NI performance as an education system is on a par with England and Scotland and ahead of Wales.
Interestingly the highest performing countries such as Finland do not have selection at 11 years old!
I wonder why this information received little or no coverage in our local news media?

Been here a while, as have others and I'm puzzled as to why you choose to post in this thread if it is of no relevance to you:o

At least it is safe to walk over bridges now in our wee country:rotfl:

Pigsmightfly_2

steveymp wrote: »

Maybe indeed................:eek:

I'll have a rumage at the house tonight, but I know that the grammar my DS is looking at actually took scores in the high 80's last year:eek: so there is hope for my son:rotfl:

Hi , syevemp,
Which schools took scores in low 80s last
Year? Would be very intetested to find out,
Still nail bitting stuff .!

Pigsmightfly_2

Pigsmightfly wrote: »

Hi , syevemp,
Which schools took scores in low 80s last
Year? Would be very intetested to find out,
Still nail bitting stuff .!

Sorry high 80s !

Dylanesque

Martin_Chambers wrote: »

Please tell parents more about your findings on PISA. How are comparisons made between countries especially when the culture, language and secondary level education systems are all different? Should we demand that the UK reduce the available hours of light during winter, give all pupils a hot free meal at school and improve our ranking of alcoholism to mimic Finland too?

I believe that country comparisons were not advised by those who produce PISA -the OECD. Martin McGuinness was the first to ignore it but now it seems everyone is at it. I'd rather have a slice of pizza myself - better value for money. Last time I checked it cost the taxpayer about £85 per pupil in N.I. Is this really money well spent? This forum is on the MoneySavingExpert site - how about a little debate on how education funding in N.I. is spent, after all it's only around £2 BILLION per year.

For those interested, the details of the recent OECD PISA research can be accessed via the DENI website - use the search site facility and the NI report may be found which includes comparative scores for individual countries.
On a more general note, I was told about this site and that it had a local NI thread by a friend. Given the comment from steveymp I wonder if I have done something I shouldn't have done.
Most of the comments here are about test scores - I still do not know what the connection is between these and moneysaving. I can see a connection to the cost of providing the NI system, though this features in only a few contributions.
Steveymp refers to those who have been here for a while - have I missed something? Is there a test to pass or qualifying period to meet before one should be deemed worthy enough to post a response?
Apologies if I have trespassed in some form of private group!

facingthefuture

Dylanesque wrote: »

Apologies if I have trespassed in some form of private group!

Of course not! You are of course welcome,many of us are just normal mums and dads trying to find our way through the education maze. It is an emotional subject close to all our hearts and many are genuinely fearful where/how their little ones will do/go. Also sometimes the tone of our written words can be interpreted differently than intended.The only other thing is that as someone who is not a teacher, I am not aware of research in to the profession, so it's good to get references for research quoted.