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The eleven-plus (11-plus) or transfer test generally refers an examination taken by some children in England and Northern Ireland in their final year of primary school education, which determines whether they are admitted to a state grammar schools which use academic selection. The exam is taken in September of year 6 when most children are generally 10 years old. The term 11+ refers to the age of a child entering secondary education: 11 years+.
Many of the schools established after the 1870s were grammar schools, which offered places based of the results of an entrance test, dubbed the eleven plus. Places were highly sought after and viewed as offering a high chance of future success and prosperity. These schools were widely respected and became the foundations of the tier-structured education reforms of the 1940s. At the time secondary education was mainly the preserve of the middle classes. In 1938 a mere 13% of 13 year-old children from working class backgrounds were still in school.
The 1944 Butler Education Act and Education (Northern Ireland) Act 1947 radically overhauled the UK education system. Free secondary education was to become universally available coupled with financial assistance for poorer students. The act intended provide children with the type of education that most suited their abilities and needs. Children sat the exam, which determined which type of secondary school they would attend, and effectively their future.
The Tripartite System was established comprising of grammar schools; secondary technical schools and secondary modern schools which was in use prevalent from 1944 until 1976, by which time it as phased out because very few technical schools were established due to the lack of investment and a shortage of suitably qualified teachers. This undermined the reforms, as the tripartite system became a two-tier system with grammar schools for the academic students and secondary modern schools for the rest.
Grammar schools received most funding and were regarded as best schools, taking in 25% of students, whilst the secondary moderns were under-funded and suffered neglect. They soon gained a poor reputation and regarded as the bottom tier schools.
Until 1976, all children sat an exam during their final year at primary school aged between 10 and 11 years. The exam comprised of three papers: mathematical reasoning; general reasoning, and an essay. There was no official pass or fail, but ultimately with an effective two-tier system children who did not gain a place at a grammar school were regarded as failing the eleven plus. Those who "passed" the eleven plus were perceived to have gained a passport for success.
Different types of schools entered their students for different exams at age 16. Grammar school students took "O” levels and students at Secondary Moderns initially did not take any exams, until regional exam boards offered less demanding qualifications, comparable to CSEs which were established in 1965. These Secondary Moderns soon entered brighter children for “O" levels and fair number achieved grades comparable to grammar school students, which undermined selection using the eleven-plus and the Tripartite streaming at a young age.
Realistically only children who attended grammar schools had chance of going to university as most secondary moderns did not offer "A” levels and did not offer facilities to prepare students for Oxford and Cambridge entrance exams. Oxbridge was out of the question. As a result many people began to question whether grammar schools promoted social mobility or created a new elite and corresponding underclass.
Middle class children were much more likely enter grammar schools which fostered fears that society was being divided into a well-educated middle class elite with working class children trapped in the under-performing Secondary Modern schools with a poor outlook. To counteract this it was believed every child should attend the same type of school under a comprehensive system.
The Tripartite system was abandoned on 1958 after an experiment with comprehensive schools began in 1949. The abolition of selection and was thought to be beneficial to those entering comprehensive schools due to a mixture of the ability of the intake, which were often taught in streamed classes for selective subjects.
As eleven-plus tests became less subject to class bias an increasing proportion of middle class children ended up at secondary moderns and some middle class parents were annoyed that the social mobility worked against them.
By 1965 the Tripartite System was almost defunct, with the emergence of Comprehensive Schools. Funds began to be withheld from new non-comprehensives. The 1976 Education Act banned selection of pupils by ability, marking an end the Tripartite System. Grammars were closed and many children simply transferred to the private sector. However the ban on selection did not last long and was allowed in 1979.
There is currently a ban on new grammar schools opening, but expansion of existing schools is encouraged, resulting in an increase in pupils attending the remaining 164 state grammar schools in England. Controversially, satellite grammar schools are allowed, which is claimed to circumvent the ban on new schools.
The final sting in the tail for the middle class is priority for grammar school admission for pupil premium qualified children and a two-tier qualifying score. In many areas pupil premium children can gain entry at lower scores than others and can benefit from free tuition (for a so called "tutor-proof" test), via an outreach programme, from people who have seen actual eleven-plus tests, which are not released in to the public domain. This is despite a ban on eleven-plus preparation by state primary schools. This is once again driving the middle class in to private schools.