A question of selection
It's not just when it comes to post primary transfer that academic selection is a hot topic. The whole business of passing and failing tests is raising anxiety amongst the Assembly staff. The 200 members of NIPSA (the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance) have asked their union to ballot on possible industrial action in a row over written tests which applicants for the jobs of Assembly Clerks and Assistant Clerks sat last summer.
More than 500 people sat the tests, and, according to the union, 63% of them failed. Those who failed aren't, apparently, being selected for interview for the jobs, which are yet to be filled.
NIPSA's Noel Griffin isn't convinced the tests were directly relevant to the jobs due to be filled. At least one section seems to have involved some fairly advanced mathematics. The union also wants to know what the impact of the tests has been on the gender and age profile of the field of applicants.
Unhappy staff are threatening to protest outside Stormont next month. What would happen if the Education Committee cannot make progress on an initiative to sort out the row over academic selection because its staff are on strike in a different row over academic selection?
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