The Education Debate. Another Look.

There is an ongoing debate in N Ireland about our education system, and how it lets down people from working class backgrounds. A letter recently shared on Twitter spoke of how there is a lack of working class representation in the new recruits joining the PSNI, as raised by Jeffrey Donaldson. A major reason is the lack of qualifications in both Protestant and Catholic working class areas.

This is undoubtedly the case. The statistics show that those 56% of those in Protestant areas who are claiming free school meals failed to get five GCSE’s to grade A* – C. The figure is 46.8% in Catholic areas. And already we note that the statistics are divided by so called religion. Under that umbrella we can also presume that there are different cirriculae, teaching methods and approaches to education itself.

The letter then moves on to the selective education system being at fault. I am not an expert in this area, and know others that have spent their careers trying to improve and change this area of education. But I do like to delve into the language used in arguments and the points being made.

The letter continues, referring to the DUP: “They are there to cater for a middle class elite of which they are a part.” This triggered a bit of research. I am middle class, no doubt about it, but I am not sure that I am therefore in an elite. I am also pretty sure that the DUP are not attracting the middle classes to their cause.

And so I looked into this elite and discovered that 43.2% of school children go to grammer schools as a result of the AQE test. Some elite. Not just those that inhabit the leafy suburbs of the Malone Road and the ‘burbs, but 64,398 children.

So a shift of 7% to grammer schools and the majority of kids will be in the elite.

So now we can have a look at the free school meals and the numbers. In secondary schools there is an uptake of 57.2% taking free school meals. But we also see in grammer schools that 50.8% take free school meals. What does this mean? That 50% of the so-called “elite” are not the elite at all, but come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. And are at grammer school?

The letter quotes educationalists as saying that our education system is “selecting and rejecting in order to raise an elite”. Is that really the case?

Is the root cause really selection? I am very advantaged. One of the main advantages of being middle class is that your parents can try to get you the best education they can afford. This is a luxury of choice through levels of wealth and having been educated themselves. My father was from a terrace in Ballymena, but when his parents pushed him to go to Ballymena Academy in 1935, he learned the value of education, and when we came along he had got to where he and my mother could spend money on our education. And when I had children I also put them before my personal political views. Hypocrite? Yes. Totally. But I want the best for my kids, that is my primary role in life. They are not an experiment. That is our choice. My partner is a medical Consultant, and also prioritises our children and their education over all else. We are not lucky, but we are fortunate.

I have benefitted not from one generation of education, but at least two, as has Margaret. My kids have three generations. We are able to help them because we have been through the system and know how it works. That does not make us an elite, it makes us more educated than others in our society. It did give us opportunity, but the same opportunities are there for nearly 50% of NI children.

So will the removal of selection change it all for the better? It might. But it might not. The real change in education will happen with a complete root and branch, clean sheet of paper look at the 21st Century and how education delivers for the young people. Not for the academics, but for those young working class people who start with a disadvantage that is currently almost impossible to overcome. How do we teach in 2021? In the same classroom environment as in 1921? What are we teaching? What do we know about our health(shown to be just about nothing during the pandemic), how to run a household economy, how to eat healthily, the importance of health, and most of all diversity and integration, not division and sectarianism.

There are jobs arriving in Northern Ireland and the biggest challenge for businesses is to fill the available positions. These are going to require a third level education, but are those in the working class areas being given an good understanding of how their children could prepare to get those jobs? Are PWC, E&Y, Citibank and others going into working class areas and beginning a programme that will enable the education process to begin and include all the necessary participants. Is it a realistic goal that the young people in these areas can see these jobs as the way forward and to replace the longing for the return of the shipyard.

The politicians are at fault. Selection may be part of the problem, but there is a lot more than that. The DUP and TUV seem more interested in getting young people out protesting for whatever is on their agenda at whatever time. The first things learned in many households are specific to NI. The marching, the celebrating of various anniversaries, the songs sung, the words spoken, the language used, the examples set, the opportunites, the value of education.

And that is the core problem. People who did not make it through the education system to third level do not know how to value education for their children in the same way as those that did. The selling of education and how it can change lives is not on any cirriculum I’ve seen.

I am advantaged, my ability has been developed, often despite myself, as I was never one for study, but I did learn how to learn, picking up a book for ten minutes, watching a documentary because I have been taught to be interested in stuff, listening to music and wondering about the content. . And ultimately I believe that a good education teaches you how to love learning, and that still works for me, 40 years since I left Queens.

There will be a lot if this that appears to be elitist, it is not meant to be. As with most of my ramblings at the core is trying tolook at things from a different angle.