Exploring academic selection and grammar schools in Northern Ireland

This project will investigate why academic selection endures in Northern Ireland and explore how the education system might be reformed.  

Why is this important?

Northern Ireland (NI) continues to provide almost all its post-primary education through a combination of grammar and secondary schools. This is despite a substantial body of research demonstrating that academically selective systems can increase inequality and impede social cohesion.  

Although successive government commissioned reports have recommended reforms to selective education, these have not resulted in change. The reasons for this are unclear, but grammar school opposition, lack of consensus on a way forward, and disagreement between political parties have been suggested as explanations.  

What does it involve?

The research team have therefore identified three objectives for this project: 

1. Identify the political, social, and educational factors that sustain academic selection in NI. Through documentary analysis, focus groups with pupils, and interviews, the team will look to uncover the political dynamics, popular discourses, and social and education processes that maintain the selective school system.  

2. Explore alternative models of post-primary education in NI and the conditions necessary for change, through interviews and deliberative research.  

3. Contribute to and promote an evidence-informed debate which reflects the evidence, incorporates the perspectives of people who have benefited from or been disadvantaged by selection, and considers alternatives to the current system.   

How will it make a difference?

Civil servants and policymakers will be engaged with and a network with non-departmental public bodies and civil societies will be nurtured. Briefings on each proposed model will be arranged for policymakers and members of the NI Assembly.