A rethink on how to assess primary school children for their future education.
The eleven plus is an examination used in England and Northern Ireland at the end of primary school and governs access to grammar and other secondary schools.
Minister for Education in Northern Ireland Lord Peter Melchett explains that they are moving away from a system where a child's education is assessed through examinations over one or two days to a system of continuous assessment carried out by teachers based on the entire period of primary school.
This puts an added responsibility on the shoulders of teachers but it lifts a huge burden of children concerned.
Gerry Quigley of the INTO says that not all children should be assessed in the same way. He advocates for equality of educational opportunity and that children should be allowed to develop their talents.
Every child should be allowed to develop to the fullest of his talents, or her talents, that the system should provide all ranges of ability.
Lord Melchett points out that no system of selection is ever going to be satisfactory at the age of eleven.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 15 June 1977.
