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Eleven-plus

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In the United Kingdom, the 11-plus or Eleven plus is an examination administered to some students in their last year of primary education. The name derives from the student age group: 11-12 years. The Eleven Plus examination was once used throughout the UK but is now only used in a number of counties and boroughs in England, and, more widely, in Northern Ireland. The Transfer Test is especially associated with the Tripartite System which was in use for thirty-two years, from 1944 to 1976.

The Transfer Test examination tests a student's ability to solve problems using verbal reasoning, maths and non-verbal reasoning. Introduced in 1944, the examination was used to determine which type of school the student should attend after primary education: a grammar school, a secondary modern school, or a technical school. The base of the Tripartite System was the idea that for this purpose skills were more important than financial resources: different skills required different schooling.

Structure

The structure of the Eleven Plus examination varied over time, and between the different counties which used it. Usually, it consisted of three papers:

  • (ii) Writing — An essay question on a general subject.
  • (iii) General Problem Solving — A test of general knowledge, assessing the ability to apply logic to simple problems.

Most children took the Eleven Plus transfer test examination in their final year of primary school: usually at age 10 or 11. In certain counties (Berkshire, Buckinghamshire) it also was possible to sit the test a year early — a process named the Ten Plus; recently, the Buckinghamshire test was called the Twelve Plus and taken a year later than usual.

Originally, the transfer test was voluntary; currently, some 30% of students in Northern Ireland do not sit for it. [1]

Current practice

Eleven plus and similar exams vary around the country but will use some or all of the following components:

In Buckinghamshire children sit just two verbal reasoning papers. In Kent children will sit all four of the above disciplines. However, in the London Borough of Bexley from September 2008, following a public consultation, pupils sitting the Eleven Plus exam will only be required to only do a Mathematics and Verbal reasoning paper. In Essex children sit Verbal Reasoning, Maths and English. Other areas use other combinations. Some authorities/areas operate an opt-in system, whilst others (such as Buckinghamshire) operate an opt-out system where all pupils are entered unless parents decide to opt out. In North Yorkshire, Harrogate/York area, children are only required to sit two tests: Verbal and Non-Verbal reasoning.

Northern Ireland

The system in Northern Ireland differs vastly with the papers being set by the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment (CCEA). They sit just a two papers on different dates in November, in total the papers consist of three sections:

  • Mathematics
  • English
  • Science

The exam of course is not compulsory and pupils do not have to sit it.

Importance

The Eleven Plus was created by the 1944 Butler Education Act. This established a Tripartite System of education, with an academic, a technical and a functional strand. Prevailing educational thought at the time was that testing was an effective way to find which strand a child was most suited for. The results of the exam would be used to match a child’s secondary school to their abilities and future career needs.

When the system was implemented, the technical schools did not appear on the scale envisaged. Instead, the Tripartite System came to be characterised by fierce competition for places at the prestigious grammar schools. As such, the Eleven Plus took on a particular significance. Rather than allocating according to need or ability, it became seen as a question of passing or failing. This led to the exam becoming widely resented.

Controversy

The Eleven Plus was a result of the major changes which took place in British education in the years up to 1944. In particular, the Hadow report of 1926 called for the division of primary and secondary education, to take place on the cusp of adolescence at 11 or 12. The implementation this break by the Butler Act seemed to offer an ideal opportunity to implement streaming, since all children would be changing school anyway. Thus testing at 11 emerged largely as an historical accident, without other specific reasons for testing at that age.

Criticism of the Eleven Plus arose on a number of grounds, though many related more to the wider education system than to academic selection generally or the Eleven Plus specifically. The proportions of schoolchildren gaining a place at a Grammar School varied by location and gender. 35% of pupils in the South West secured grammar school places as opposed to 10% in Nottinghamshire.[2] Due to the continuance of single-sex schooling, there were fewer places for girls than boys.

The merits of testing at 11+, when children are at varying stages of maturity, have been questioned, particularly considering the impact of the test in later life. Children who developed later (so-called "late bloomers") suffered because there was not enough flexibility in the system to move them between grammar and secondary modern schools[citation needed]. Once a child had been allocated to one type of school or the other it was difficult to have this assessment changed [citation needed]. (It was, however, possible, at least in some areas, for academically able pupils from secondary modern schools to transfer to grammar schools around age 17 in order to study for GCE A-levels, and in some cases to progress to higher education.) Areas using the exam today have recognised this concern, and offer reassessment in later years, notably at Key Stage 3.

Critics of the Eleven Plus also claimed that there was a strong class bias in the exam. JWB Douglas, studying the question in 1957, found that children on the borderline of passing were more likely to get grammar school places if they came from middle class families.[3] For example, questions about the role of household servants or classical composers were easier for middle class children to answer but far less familiar to those from less wealthy or less educated backgrounds. This criticism was certainly true of the earlier forms of the exam, and as a result the Eleven Plus was redesigned during the 1960s to be more like an IQ test. It has been argued that middle class opposition to the Eleven Plus arose partly as a result of this move to greater fairness[citation needed].

The sociologist A. H. Halsey claimed that as much as one quarter of pupils were misallocated by the exam. It is generally agreed that the Eleven Plus exam itself was imperfect and those advocating a return to the Tripartite System usually acknowledge the need to review testing methods.

Use of the Eleven Plus today

In counties in which vestiges of the Tripartite System still survive, the Eleven Plus continues to exist. Today it is generally used as an entrance test to a specific group of schools, rather than a blanket exam for all pupils, and is taken voluntarily. For more information on these, see the main article on grammar schools. The largest area still operating the Eleven Plus after the system was phased out in Northern Ireland in 2008[1] is the county of Lincolnshire (although the test is optional, the education system is completely Tripartite- every major town has Grammar and Comprehensive/ Technical Schools). Kent students can take the test, although the past few years have seen fluctuating policies of compulsory testing, and the abandonment of testing. For more information, see the main article on the Tripartite System.

Independent schools, particularly those Foundation Schools (Grant Maintained) which seceded from the state system after the abolition of the Tripartite System, often model their entrance exams upon the old Eleven Plus.

The content of the examination differs from area to area, but most children sit a Verbal Reasoning paper, many sit a non-verbal reasoning paper, some sit an English paper and some sit a Mathematics paper; there may be several different combinations of these four.

Scoring

The scoring used varies between different areas. As an example, in Kent, mathematics and writing are each given twice the weighting of verbal reasoning.

A pass mark is used to decide whether students are eligible for a grammar school education. Usually, the pass mark is between 400 and 450 out of 700. Students who achieve the pass mark are given the opportunity to study at grammar school while those who fall below that are often not. Should a score be close to, yet slightly below, the pass mark, then the candidate may appeal to get into grammar school. Generally someone who gets between 500 and 530 has achieved just enough to pass. Those getting 530 to 600 are most likely fairly able to carry on to grammar school without a problem. Students who score between 600 and 650 are considered extremely bright. Those that exceed a score of 650 are rare yet exemplary cases and will have no problems whatsoever in making the transition from primary to secondary education.

In Northern Ireland, pupils are awarded grades in the following ratios to pupils sitting the exam: A (25%), B1 (5%), B2 (5%), C1 (5%), C2 (5%), D (55%) and there is no official distinction between pass grades and fail grades.

References

  1. ^ Transfer Procedure - Department of Education, Northern Ireland
  2. ^ Szreter, S. Lecture, University of Cambridge, Lent Term 2004
  3. ^ Sampson, A. Anatomy of Britain Today, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1965, p195

Providers of 11 Plus Materials

In favour of the Eleven Plus/Academic Selection

Against the Eleven Plus/Academic Selection

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