Northern Ireland has a deeply divided education system with demarcation most notable along ethno/religious and social class lines. The former is largely attributable to the historical organization of the schools estate based on religion, and the latter is associated with a system of academic selection that filters children into Grammar and non-selective post-primary schools according to their performance in tests taken during the final year of primary school. Academic selection, and the grammar school system that underpins it, has come under some considerable scrutiny, with much of the research evidence pointing to a negative relationship between the selective system and equality of opportunity in education. The suitability of this system in a transitioning society that has become more ethnically diverse in post conflict years has, however, received less attention. Drawing on social cohesion theory, we reflect on the grammar school system to argue that the cross-community class interests animating it not only perpetuate inequalities within respective communities but may also present a significant barrier to peacebuilding efforts in education, and ultimately impede progress towards a more socially cohesive society.

In this presentation we explore the social costs of academic transfer tests and the grammar school system in Northern Ireland. Employing three core dimensions of social cohesion (distributive, relational and ideational) as a conceptual framework, we draw on existent research on academic selection from GB and NI and the body of research on the divided education system in Northern Ireland, supplemented with unique secondary data analysis of statistics on free school meal entitlement across different school types in NI (sourced from the Department of Education (NI)) to make the case presented in the paper.

In summary, we argue that academic selection perpetuates middle-class advantage and limits potential for the development of a more integrative and inclusive education system. In a society emerging from conflict, those in more marginalised communities experience the consequences of this most acutely, and in communities that are historically segregated and susceptible to paramilitary control, educational failure and the absence of social mobility are more likely to manifest in violence and intergroup hostility.

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