Bishop of Derry Most Rev Donal McKeown
There has been intense debate this week about the academic selection process for Northern Ireland grammar schools.
One test provider cancelled its exams due to the Covid-19 crisis but another said it would test children next month.
Bishop of Derry the Most Reverend Donal McKeown said the test process – which is run by private companies – had become “big business”.
The Association for Quality Education (AQE) said on Tuesday that it intends to run one test in a single sitting in February rather than the usual series of exams.
Parents pay a fee of £55 for their child to take the AQE test.
The Post-Primary Transfer Consortium (PPTC) – which does not charge for entry to its process – has cancelled its tests in 2021.
Bishop McKeown told the BBC’s Sunday Politics Northern Ireland programme: “AQE would have about 9,000 pupils applying this year… that’s half a million pounds coming in to run a business.
“And let’s say you work on the assumption that parents are spending maybe £250 on tutoring [for their children] there’s another £2.5m.
“We’re not just talking about making educational changes – we are talking about a business.
“When business becomes a major element in educational decisions I think, perhaps, we’ve lost the point.”
There have been calls for the AQE to cancel its test due to the Covid-19 crisis, with many pupils facing a prolonged period of learning from home amid the tightening of the Covid-19 lockdown.
A small number of grammar schools that would typically use it to select their pupils for the following academic year have since decided not to proceed with it in 2021.
The transfer test has long been a controversial issue in Northern Ireland, with some political parties opposing its use.
Stormont ministers clashed on Friday about whether to the executive should intervene in the AQE’s decision.
Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the Alliance Party – which all oppose academic selection – argued that the test should not take place due to the pandemic.
But the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) said it supports the right for schools to select their pupils.
Education Minister Peter Weir – a member of the DUP – has agreed to present a paper on the issue at a future meeting of the Stormont executive.
Bishop McKeown said: “The public education system has to be focused on doing the best for the largest number of people.
“It can end up ceasing to be primarily a test of academic ability and more become a measure of those who are financially able.
“I hope our politicians could grapple with that reality – when business enters education we have to ask questions.”
Schools that have pulled out of the testing process have said they will review their contingency admissions criteria and published those in due course.
Bishop McKeown said there “should have had a plan B long in advance”.
“We really are out of options now – we have to say: ‘How can we focus on doing the best for the largest number, particularly the most disadvantaged?'”
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