Jarlath Burns on GAA and Academic Selection

[glens abu]

NOW THAT the major schools GAA competitions are over, it is time to pay tribute to a group of people who run these matches with outstanding efficiency, economy and effort.

This is the Ulster GAA Colleges committee, a small band of volunteers who produce a set of fixtures to rival any county board, with no headquarters, no full time staff and very little finance.

Schools are not clubs, they don't need to worry about who is going to do the bar on Friday night, or how much the lotto took in, or if enough money came in this month to pay the loan. All they need to focus on is making their teams play good football.

Added to this is the discipline and respect for the referee that the teachers instil in their pupils and much that we want to see from our games ends up on show at these matches. I'd say the game between the Abbey and Maghera was probably the best game of football played this year.

Ulster Colleges GAA is not elitist. They welcome teams from other sectors. Our school, St Paul's Bessbrook, has been residing in this territory now for four years and will be in the MacRory next year and if Holy Trinity Cookstown decide they want to step up too, they will be met with open arms. However, while the committee themselves are inclusive, the system out of which they operate is anything but, and this is where the GAA needs to step in.

It is hard to avoid the fact that a turf war is going on at present between the grammar schools on one side with the government and Catholic Church on the other, based round the 'What We Have We Hold' principle. And what they have is quite plush indeed. At age 11, they cream off the best primary sevens for themselves and shove the rest into the 'Vocational' sector.

These great Catholic schools, apparently committed to the 'education of the whole person', residing in sumptuous diocesan grounds with beautiful facades and fantastic facilities, wouldn't let a child without a certain intellectual ability past their beautiful wrought iron gates for love nor money (well maybe money, though since boarding stopped, the rich and thick have to find another way of buying their places).

Of course, when they have filled all their places with As, they go down the alphabet until they come to the Ds and if a primary seven has done the test and failed and there is a place, they will take him too. Not so much every child a number, as every child a letter.

When the government decided that this was unjust and proposed change, they refused to budge. And when the Catholic Church, who actually own the properties and the ethos to which these schools apparently belong, stepped in and said, 'Look lads, the party is over', they told them to get stuffed too.

This shows the utter arrogance of this sector; that they believe their anti-Catholic method of selection is more important than the future of education itself. The line, 'Suffer little Children to come onto me,' for these schools continues...

'As long as you have an A in the ridiculously inaccurate unregulated tests for primary seven children for which we have enlisted private companies to run for us on property owned by the Catholic Church who don't even agree with our policy of selection.'

The Church itself has to share some of the blame because it has been weak in standing up to these schools. Many of them have bishops as chair of governors, some of whom secretly enjoy the dripping tradition of these results factories and would recoil at the thought of 'ordinary' children passing through their hallowed doors.

They claim that this tradition is part of the fabric of these schools, but this sounds too much like the Augusta Golf Club using the same argument for not letting women or even black people up until the late 90s, become members.

And they're great at perpetuating this two tier system themselves. Ten years ago when two new Catholic schools sprung up to cope with the burgeoning Catholic population in south Belfast, instead of embracing equality and making the schools comprehensive, they created a grammar and a secondary and called one Aquinas after the noble scholar and the other St Joseph's after the humble carpenter. A lovely set of labels to give the new first year pupils.

All of this for fear that the new middle class Catholics might send their children to Methody or Inst. if they had no grammar school to go to. A really inspirational rationale.

The injustice is stark. On my very first day as a new pupil in St Colman's Newry, 1st September 1979 aged 11, I saw it with my own two eyes when we, the lucky clever boys got rewarded with a beautiful college at the end of a sweeping avenue, while over the hill, in full view from our fantastic Art room, was the rundown, gloomy building of St Joseph's Secondary School for those boys who had committed the sin of not passing their 11 plus.

In between were the pristine College football fields and, I kid you not, the College farm. I knew something was wrong in education then, aged 1. It is still wrong.

So what has this got to do with the GAA?

Quite a lot actually, for as long as we have a Colleges sector and a Vocational sector, we are bedfellows in this charade. And the GAA is now being used as a tool by these schools to get one over the other one.

Vast sums of money, resources and time are being invested to win the MacRory which wouldn't be out of place in the Leinster Schools Rugby scene and some of the tactics used to recruit players border on the laughable if it wasn't so serious.

Schools who revel in their 'academic ethos', suddenly going all pastoral and allowing boys from local secondaries with two GCSEs in to do A Levels. (as long as they can play football, who cares if they end up with three U grades) Meanwhile, ordinary lads are told their five GCSE's aren't good enough for a place in Upper Sixth.

So in these colleges, there is an elite within an elite and inevitably, this breeds resentment among the other lads, the good club players who can't make the team, the boys who are unfortunate enough not to be good at football, and those who love the arts, the orchestra and the choir, who feel like second class citizens.

I see within the recently launched GAA Post Primary Strategy, there are plans for a 'root and branch' review of all schools football in 2014. This date sounds very much like the 'we're going to sort all this out in two years time' line we're hearing from the Catholic Church and the government here.

For example, in their strategic plan, the Northern Ireland Council for Catholic Education has ambitious proposals to make every school answerable to its geographical catchment area as opposed to the attainment of children aged 11. It is a sound, sensible document.

However, Newry is seen as such a powerhouse of grammar school tradition, that they have decided to do absolutely nothing there for two years. And in two years time they will do the same because they're all afraid of these schools when the answer is beautifully simple.

Tell them if they want to continue with their ridiculous nonsense of selection, tradition and elitism that they can do so, but without any funding from the Department of Education, nor on property belonging to the Catholic Church.

But the GAA can and needs to take a lead on this. Establish a simple divisional league for MacRory, MacLarnon, Markey and other competitions and allow schools to decide themselves where they belong. Whether a school is a grammar or a secondary should be irrelevant.

And the grammar schools too need to catch themselves on. They are contributing most to burn out of talented players with their ridiculous training demands on lads from September to March, making players pawns in their mission to make their school more elite and with better traditions than the others.

Change is needed, but I wouldn't hold my breath. The grammars will continue to 'walk their traditional route' as long as they are allowed to.

[Hereiam]

Good article. How many primary school friendships has this system destroyed. In my own case I lost good friends because they went to brothers and I went to the local secondary school.

[armaghniac]

He is conflating two points here. A general one about academic selection and whether this should form the basis of GAA competitions (it shouldn't).
So in St Pauls does a clumsy useless fellow get on the football team, or there a selective process?

[dowling]

Very good article indeed. Always remember an old man who looked after kids all his life saying teachers were a curse on the GAA. Makes you wonder.

[NAG1]

Not sure on this article as he goes across so many different issues, school selection, church elitism, the class system, monied parents paying for education, burn out, lack of government investment in the comprehensive sector to name but a few.

Would be saying this if he had landed a job at Colmans or one of the other elite' schools?

Doesnt sit overly well with me despite agreeing with some of his points.

[nrico2006]

Slightly off topic, but I was thinking about the reaction to a school winning the MacRory yesterday compared to a school winning a soccer competition.  It came about as my old Primary School won the NI Primary Schools Cup yesterday and my Secondary school (straight across the road from the Primary school) won both the NI U-16 and U-18 schools cup yesterday also.  While it would be great to win the MacRory, surely it is a greater achievement to win the soccer competition considering you have I'd imagine a far higher number of schools competing plus the schools involved would not be limited to one religion.

[Rois]

Slightly off topic, but I was thinking about the reaction to a school winning the MacRory yesterday compared to a school winning a soccer competition.  It came about as my old Primary School won the NI Primary Schools Cup yesterday and my Secondary school (straight across the road from the Primary school) won both the NI U-16 and U-18 schools cup yesterday also.  While it would be great to win the MacRory, surely it is a greater achievement to win the soccer competition considering you have I'd imagine a far higher number of schools competing plus the schools involved would not be limited to one religion.

It's an achievement to get to the top of whatever field you've chosen to compete in and i'd argue that one isn't "greater" than the other. 

How do we get those super soccer players in Strabane to play gaelic as well? 

[Norf Tyrone]

Slightly off topic, but I was thinking about the reaction to a school winning the MacRory yesterday compared to a school winning a soccer competition.  It came about as my old Primary School won the NI Primary Schools Cup yesterday and my Secondary school (straight across the road from the Primary school) won both the NI U-16 and U-18 schools cup yesterday also.  While it would be great to win the MacRory, surely it is a greater achievement to win the soccer competition considering you have I'd imagine a far higher number of schools competing plus the schools involved would not be limited to one religion.

It's an achievement to get to the top of whatever field you've chosen to compete in and i'd argue that one isn't "greater" than the other. 

How do we get those super soccer players in Strabane to play gaelic as well?

There's a million dollar question there Rois.

I was up yesterday for the finals. Poor games, but cracking atmosphere, and great to see the old schools do the business.

Rois- I've argued for years that the N Tyrone Club's need to work together on the 'schools' issue, and I know this was started last year, but appears to have ran out of steam. However I'd say there is a 'soccer' culture engrained in Strabane that is going to be very difficult to overcome.

[johnneycool]

Funnily enough my former school principal had an article along the same lines in a local newspaper. He was arguing that the Grammar schools were downgrading their entry levels just to fill their classrooms and hence keep their slice of the budget and teacher count irrespective if it was the right thing to do for the child. You might say that the parents of the children who wouldn't normally be considered academic would know whats best, but sometimes thats far from the case.

Now, the former 11+ didn't exactly excel here either as it took the top certain percentage based on the number of grammar schools seats available as well. No matter how smart young johnney was, if X percent were smarter he didn't get in. Some parent were spending a small fortune getting their child tutored for the 11+, but if they passed the 11+ and got into a grammar, that support was no longer there and the child suffered. I have a few friends school teachers in grammar schools and they used to say that they could spot the tutored children fairly quickly.

Now the grammar schools have loads of seats to fill and theres a drop in students, the colleges are feeling the pinch as they're bottom of the food chain.

Every parent wants the best education for their child and grammar schools are perceived be be that, I just don't think they suit every child and

[Gaffer]

Grammar school teachers don't believe they should have to differentiate their lessons to suit the different  levels of ability in the class. and the thing is they are getting away with it by the inspectorate and parents accept that their child is finding it difficult  to 'keep up'.
  Primary school teachers are , on the other hand, expected to deal with the different abilities in the classroom and prepare their lessons accordingly. Not only for for the less able but those small number of children who are above average as well they have to be seen to be challenged. So in effect , within the primary sector there are 3 lessons going on within one lesson. Grammar schools ought to be challenged more about what thy are doing  for the less able in their school instead of teaching of the one level all the time


Excellent article from Burns re the grammar schools and academic selection by the way!

[armaghniac]

He was arguing that the Grammar schools were downgrading their entry levels just to fill their classrooms and hence keep their slice of the budget and teacher count irrespective if it was the right thing to do for the child.

Of course this is going on. This is probably not too bad in Newry which has a reasonably buoyant population, but it is very much the case with some Protestant grammars.

Grammar school teachers don't believe they should have to differentiate their lessons

That's the whole point of selection. People in the class have similar ability and so can proceed at maximum speed.

[Kickham csc]

I must admit, looking back now on my old alma mater, St Patrick's Maghera, they were 30 / 40 years ahead of the game.

The academic structure there is that it is open to all students, regardless of performance of 11 plus.

In 1st year, kids are put into classes aligned with ability, so you finished up with a vocational school, with a grammar stream.

Each year after, the kids are continuously realigned according to ability, so someone who failed the 11 plus, but performed well in school, could move up, and vice versa.

However, when you come to GCSE's, your subject elective choices leads to a cross fertilization of sorts, where a class could have a mixture of students across the ability range

I believe that it was a fair solution, and it supported respect across the student body. No snobbery etc

And when it came to sports, the school wasn't compromising there academic philosophy by "sneaking players in for sports" who otherwise would meet there normal academic standards.

[Orchardman]

I must admit, looking back now on my old alma mater, St Patrick's Maghera, they were 30 / 40 years ahead of the game.

The academic structure there is that it is open to all students, regardless of performance of 11 plus.

In 1st year, kids are put into classes aligned with ability, so you finished up with a vocational school, with a grammar stream.

Each year after, the kids are continuously realigned according to ability, so someone who failed the 11 plus, but performed well in school, could move up, and vice versa.

However, when you come to GCSE's, your subject elective choices leads to a cross fertilization of sorts, where a class could have a mixture of students across the ability range

I believe that it was a fair solution, and it supported respect across the student body. No snobbery etc

And when it came to sports, the school wasn't compromising there academic philosophy by "sneaking players in for sports" who otherwise would meet there normal academic standards.

Sounds good surely, but is this not always the way it was done? I'm not sure, but i started a vocational school near 20 years ago, and was put in the top band due to having a good 11 plus. Having since taught in vocational and grammar schools i think they both have excellent standards. The armagh and newry area is going to be difficult to solve though, newry's 2 boys grammar and 2 girls grammer must easily be in the top 7 or 8 schools in the north for grades. They all have fairly fresh buildings, especially the lads schools, hard to see what kind of merging can be done.

Good of jarly to speak up though!

[FermGael]

Funnily enough my former school principal had an article along the same lines in a local newspaper. He was arguing that the Grammar schools were downgrading their entry levels just to fill their classrooms and hence keep their slice of the budget and teacher count irrespective if it was the right thing to do for the child. You might say that the parents of the children who wouldn't normally be considered academic would know whats best, but sometimes thats far from the case.

Hit the Nail on the head there.   That's exactly what is being done.
If I was John O'Dowd i would call the grammar schools bluff.
Bring back the eleven plus but limit grammar schools intake to just A and B grades.
Watch the number of grammar schools who would become comprehensive overnight.

[Tony Baloney]

If he was Head or Deputy Head in a grammar school he wouldnt have written that article. Big chip on his shoulder in my opinion.