Last day of 11-plus consultation

A three-month consultation period on proposals for post-primary education in Northern Ireland is ending on Tuesday.

The Department of Education's plans include scrapping the 11-plus and replacing it with less academic forms of selection after 2008.

Education Minister Angela Smyth has been criticised for not listening to arguments in favour of its retention.

In December, Ms Smyth said by 2009, schools could take pupils based on a flexible "menu of criteria".

These include already having siblings at the school as well as various community and geographical factors.

If selection could not be sorted out through these criteria, there would be "tie-breakers" including random selection and distance from the school, she said.

The proposals could signal the end for grammar schools choosing pupils on the basis of their academic performance.

Other proposed changes include a revised curriculum and a pupil profile by teachers of each primary school child.

Mrs Smith wants to abolish the test by 2009

The government said this was aimed at helping parents rather than being a replacement for the transfer test.

In recent years, the number of children eligible to sit the tests has been dropping, and the proportion of those who choose to do it has also been falling.

The Ulster Farmers' Union has said some of the proposals will discriminate against children living in rural areas.

Stephen Elliott of the Parental Alliance for Choice in Education has called the minister's plans "flawed".

The decision to abolish the 11-plus transfer test and academic selection in Northern Ireland was announced in January 2004, following consideration of the Costello Group's report.

The government-appointed working body was set up to suggest alternatives to the current transfer tests.

The first move to remove academic selection was made by former Northern Ireland education minister Martin McGuinness hours before he left office in October 2002.

Last month, Mr McGuinness said the end of academic selection was "unstoppable" in spite of opposition from grammar schools.

He said if the changes were managed properly they would have an immediate and positive effect

However, Sir Kenneth Bloomfield, who has been campaigning on behalf of the grammar school lobby, said the wishes of the majority had been ignored.

The last 11-plus transfer test is scheduled to be held in 2008.