NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Eleven plus

The Eleven Plus is an examination which was 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 boroughs in England, and more widely 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. To examine somebody or something is to inspect it closely, hence an examination is a detailed inspection or analysis of an object or person. ... The Tripartite System, known colloquially as the grammar school system, was the structure by which Britains secondary education was organised between the 1944 Butler Act and 1976. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area â€“ Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 kmÂ² Population â€“ Total (mid-2004) â€“ Total (2001 Census) â€“ Density Ranked 1st UK 50. ... Dieu et mon droit (Royal motto) (French for God and my right)3 Northern Irelands location within the UK Official languages English, Irish, Ulster Scots Capital and largest city Belfast First Minister Office suspended Area - Total Ranked 4th 13,843 kmÂ² Population - Total (2001) - Density Ranked 4th 1,685... A Grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in Britain. ... Secondary modern schools are a type of school in British educational systems, part of the Tripartite System. ...

1 Structure
2 Current Practice
3 Importance
4 Controversy
5 Use of the Eleven Plus Today
6 Links
7 Footnotes

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. Elementary arithmetic is the most basic kind of mathematics: it concerns the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. ... GCSE is an acronym that can refer to: General Certificate of Secondary Education global common subexpression elimination - an optimisation technique used by some compilers This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Map of Bucks (1904) Buckinghamshire (abbreviated Bucks) is a county in South East England. ...

Current Practice

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

Verbal reasoning
Nonverbal reasoning
Mathematics
Writing

In Buckinghamshire children sit just two verbal reasoning papers. In Kent children will sit all four of the above disciplines. 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.

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. The Education Act 1944 changed the education system for secondary schools in England and Wales. ... The Tripartite System, known colloquially as the grammar school system, was the structure by which Britains secondary education was organised between the 1944 Butler Act and 1976. ...

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. The Tripartite System of education in the United Kingdom was a system of education introduced in the Butler Education Act of 1944, covering Primary and Secondary education. ... A Grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in Britain. ...

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. South West England is one of the regions of England. ... Nottinghamshire (abbreviated Notts) is an English county in the East Midlands, which borders South Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire. ... Single-sex education is the practice of conducting education where male and female students attend separate classes or in separate buildings or schools. ...

The merits of testing at 11, when children were at varying stages of mature mentally, has been questioned, particularly when the impact of the test 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. Adolescence is the transitional stage of development between childhood and full adulthood (gender-specific manhood, or womanhood), representing the period of time during which a person is biologically adult but emotionally not at full maturity. ... Key Stage 3 sets the educational knowledge expected of a child aged between 11-14 in the United Kingdom National Curriculum Key stage 3 strategy and development of pupils mathematical language It is debatable whether the faculty of mathematics is an independent one. ...

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. Servant has a number of meaning: A servant is another word for domestic worker, a person who is hired to provide regular household or other duties, and receives compensation. ... This is a list of composers, mostly European, of the Classical music era, roughly from 1740 to 1820. ...

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. A Grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in Britain. ... The Tripartite System, known colloquially as the grammar school system, was the structure by which Britains secondary education was organised between the 1944 Butler Act and 1976. ...

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. A Grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in Britain. ...

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 and some sit a mathematics paper or different combinations of all three.

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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