:: press release ::

November 10, 2008

TRADE UNIONS TOTALLY WRONG SAYS ROSS

East Antrim MLA Alastair Ross has slammed the campaign by the Irish Trade Unions today opposing academic selection.

Commenting from his East Antrim constituency this morning Mr Ross said,

“Far from excluding those living in areas of social disadvantage, academic selection allows pupils from all backgrounds to go to the most popular schools. The alternative, as proposed by the Minister, is to create a system of schooling that allows those parents who have more money to buy houses closest to the most popular schools. This fact is bourn out in evidence from England, Scotland and even parts of Dublin.

The DUP advocate a system of education based on merit. Our education system has not only seen Northern Ireland pupils consistently outperform their English and Scottish counterparts, but has also seen more young people from working class areas get to University than elsewhere in the UK.

There are those in the education sector and trade unions who clearly do not want to see our most academically gifted pupils stretched so that they can be the best that they possibly can. We do. We want to see Northern Ireland produce the worlds top economics, engineers, mathematicians and scientists.

This does not mean that we forget about those less academic pupils, but we do not fix the bottom end of the system by dismantling the top. Academic selection matches a pupil to the school that best suits their individual needs. This allows those pupils who need additional help to get that tailored support that they need.

The fact remains, academic selection is safeguarded, and unless the Minister brings forward proposals which incorporate this mechanism for transfer she will not gain the support of the Executive, Assembly or the public.”