Answers needed on pupil profiling
17 December 2008
Commenting on the apparent withdrawal of pupil profiling TUV MEP Jim Allister said:
“The apparent withdrawal of pupil profiling raises a number of very serious questions. First and foremost, how much has this cost the tax payer? It would appear that millions of pounds have been squandered. Secondly, will the man responsible for pushing a system which received almost universal condemnation from parents, Gavan Boyd, be held accountable for this debacle or will he be allowed to head up the new Education and Skills Authority which was recently backed by the DUP in the Assembly?
“It also behoves the Department of Education to assure us that no computer system will be brought in to replace the one which has been discredited without consultation with qualified experts in testing. Parents should be wary of any attempt to re-introduce pupil profiling by the back door.
“Finally, it is not just pupil profiling which needs to go but the Revised Curriculum. The Revised Curriculum robs Northern Ireland’s children of a proper grounding in the basic fundamentals of numeracy and literacy and is fundamentally anti-selection”.
