Eleven plus

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(Redirected from 11-plus)

The Eleven Plus was an examination given to students in their last year of primary education in the United Kingdom under the Tripartite System. It is still used in a number of counties, and in Northern Ireland. The test examines the student's ability to solve problems using verbal and non-verbal reasoning. Contrary to its designers’ intentions, the exam came to be seen as determining whether a student went to a grammar school or to a secondary modern.

Contents

Structure

The structure of the eleven plus varied over time and between counties. Usually, it consisted of three papers

  • Arithmetic – A mental arithmetic test. Set in a pre-calculator era, it was arguably more challenging than the GCSE mathematics non-calculator paper.
  • Writing – An essay question on a general subject.
  • General Problem Solving – A paper assessing ability to apply logic to simple problems and to test general knowledge.

Most children sat the test in their final year of primary school. In certain counties, such as Buckinghamshire, it was also possible to sit the test a year early- a process nicknamed the ‘ten plus’. The test was voluntary, but it was extremely rare not to enter.

Importance

The eleven plus was created as part of 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 argued that testing was an effective way of finding which strand a child was most suited for. The results from the exam would be used to match a child’s abilities and future career needs to their secondary school.

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 highly stressful and widely resented.

Controversy

The eleven plus was the result of the major changes taking 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 imposition of such a stark break in the Butler Act seemed to offer an ideal opportunity to implement streaming, since all children would be changing school anyway. Testing at 11 emerged largely as a historical accident, without clear forethought.

Criticism of the eleven plus arose on a number of grounds. Success was determined not only by ability, but by location and gender. 35% of pupils in the South West secured grammar school places as opposed to 10% in Nottinghamshire.[1] Due to the continuance of single-sex schooling, there were fewer places for girls than boys.

The merits of testing at 11, when children were at varying stages of mature mentally, has been questioned, particularly when the impact of the text on later life is taken into account. Late bloomers suffered badly as a result of the exam. 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.[2] Questions about the role of household servants or classical composers helped middle class children at the expense of those from more deprived backgrounds. This criticism was certainly true of the earlier forms of the exam, and as a result the eleven plus became more like an IQ test during the 1960s. It has been argued that middle class opposition to the eleven plus rose partly as a result of this move to greater fairness.

Overall, it has been suggested that a large number of students were unfairly treated by the eleven plus. The sociologist AH Halsey claimed that as much as one quarter of pupils were misallocated by the exam. It is generally agreed that the eleven plus was a flawed institution, even those advocating a return to the Tripartite System usually acknowledging the need for a more sensitive method of testing.

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 usually takes on the form of 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 is Northern Ireland, although it is planned to phase the exam out in 2008. For more information, see the main article on the Tripartite System.

Independent schools, particularly those Direct Grant Grammars which seceded from the state system after the abolition of the Tripartite System, often model their entrance exams upon the old eleven plus.

Links

Please note that these links are for websites against the eleven plus.

This link is for an information site about the current eleven plus system in Buckinghamshire, England.

Footnotes

1 ^  Szreter, S. Lecture, University of Cambridge, Lent Term 2004

2 ^  Sampson, A. Anatomy of Modern Britain Today, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1965, p195

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