Eleven-plus

The Tripartite System of education, with an academic, a technical and a functional strand, was established in the 1940s. Prevailing educational thought at the time was that testing was an effective way to discover the strand to which a child was most suited. The results of the exam would be used to match children's secondary schools to their abilities and future career needs.

When the system was implemented, technical schools were not available 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 widely resented by some although strongly supported by others.[1]

Grammar school areas and groups in England as identified by the Education (Grammar School Ballots) Regulations 1998.[3] LEAs considered grammar areas are shown solid red, while red spots indicate isolated grammar schools or clusters of neighbouring schools.

There are 163 remaining grammar schools in various parts of England, and 67 in Northern Ireland. In counties in which vestiges of the Tripartite System still survive, the eleven-plus continues to exist. Today it is generally used as 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.

Eleven-plus and similar exams vary around the country but will use some or all of the following components:

• Verbal Reasoning (VR)
• Non-Verbal reasoning (NVR)
• Mathematics (MA)
• English (EN)

Eleven-plus tests take place in September of children's final primary school year with results provided to parents in October to allow application for secondary schools. In Lincolnshire children will sit the Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. In Buckinghamshire children sit tests in Verbal Reasoning, Mathematics and Non-Verbal reasoning. In Kent, where the eleven-plus test is more commonly known as the Kent Test, children sit all four of the above disciplines; however the Creative Writing, which falls as part the English test, will only be used in circumstances of appeal.[4] In the London Borough of Bexley from September 2008, following a public consultation, pupils sitting the Eleven-Plus exam are only required to do a Mathematics and Verbal Reasoning paper. In Essex, where the examination is optional, children sit Verbal Reasoning, Mathematics and English. Other areas use different combinations. Some authorities/areas operate an opt-in system, while others (such as Buckinghamshire) operate an opt-out system where all pupils are entered unless parents decide to opt out. In the North Yorkshire, Harrogate/York area, children are only required to sit two tests: Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning.

Independent schools in England generally select children at the age of 13, using a common set of papers known as the Common Entrance Examination[5] About ten do select at eleven; using papers in English, Mathematics and Science. These also have the Common entrance exam name.[6]

Scoring

Normal distribution curve that illustrates standard deviations. This illustration just has the "Wechsler" scale added whereby the scores are scaled with a mean of 100 and standard deviation of 15.

Authority/consortium	Mean	Standard Deviation
Bishop Wordsworth	100	15
Chelmsford	100	15
Dover Grammar School for Boys	100	15
Folkestone	100	15
Gloucester	100	15
Harvey	100	15
Heckmondwike	100	15
Henrietta Barnett School	100	15
Kendrick School	100	15
Mayfield	100	15
Reading School	100	15
Redbridge	100	15
The Latymer School	100	15
Torbay and Devon Consortium	100	15
West Midland Boys	100	15
West Midland Girls	100	15
Buckinghamshire	100	43
Dame Alice Owen	106	15
Slough Consortium	106	15
South West Herts	106	15
Bexley	200	30
King Edwards Consortium	200	30
Warwickshire	200	30
Wirral Borough Council	234	15
Altrincham	315	30
Sale	318	30
Stretford	327	30
Urmston	328	30

England has 164 grammar schools, 85% of which are academies at liberty to set their own individual admissions criteria including the type of entrance tests they set and what weighting is given to each one. Schools frequently form consortia to set a common test or get the local authority to administer it but despite this there might be about 70 different 11+ tests set each year across the country[7] meaning it is no longer possible to talk about the eleven plus test as a single entity.

The actual marks from these tests, referred to as raw marks, are never disclosed, instead parents are given Standard Age Scores (SAS). A standard score shows how well the individual has performed relative to the mean (average) score for the population although the term population is open to interpretation. GL Assessment, who set the majority of 11+ tests, say it should be, "a very large, representative sample of students usually across the UK"[8] however grammar schools chose to standardise their tests against just those children who apply to them in a given year as this enables them to match supply to demand.

Test results follow a normal distribution resulting in the familiar bell curve which reliably predicts how many test takers gain each different score. For example, only 15.866% score more than one standard deviation above the mean (+1σ generally represented as 115 SAS) as can be seen by adding up the proportions in this graph based on the original provided by M. W. Toews).

By standardising on just the cohort of applicants, a school with for example, 100 places which regularly gets 800 applications can set a minimum pass mark of 115 which selects approximately 127 applicants filling all of the places and leaving about 27 on the waiting list. The downside of this local standardisation, as it has been called, is parents are frequently unaware that their children are being judged as much by the standard of other applicants as their own abilities.

Another issue with the lack of national standards in testing is it prevents any comparison between schools. Public perception may be that only pupils who are of grammar school standard are admitted to grammar schools; however, other information such as the DfE league tables[9][10] calls into question the existence of any such standard. Competition for places at Sutton Grammar School is extremely fierce with, according to an online forum[11] over 2,500 applicants in 2016. Official statistics show 100% of those admitted to Sutton Grammar School have, "high prior attainment at the end of key stage 2", compared to only 44% of those who attend Skegness Grammar School. The Grammar Schools Heads Association's Spring 2017 newsletter[12][13] says the government are considering a national selection test which would remove the lack of consistency between different 11+ tests.

Between them, GL and CEM earn an estimated £2.5m annually[14] from setting and marking the 11+ tests. Releasing the raw marks would bring some clarity to the admissions process but attempts to do so have generally been unsuccessful. GL have used the fact that they are not covered by Freedom of Information legislation to withhold information[15] made for information relating to the 11+ exams used by Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, who stated, "Our examination provider, GL Assessment Limited (GL) is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI) as it is not a public body.“, whilst their main rival CEM successfully argued in court[16][17] that, "one of the benefits of its 11+ testing is that it is 'tutor proof'” and releasing the raw marks would undermine this unique selling point.

When a standard score is calculated the results is a negative value for any values below the mean. As it would seem very strange to be given a negative score Goldstein and Fogelman (1974)[18] explain, "It is common to 'normalise' the scores by transforming them to give a distribution with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15."[19] Thus a normalised SAS of 100 indicates the mean (average) achievement whilst a score of 130 would be two standard deviations above the mean. A score achieved by only 2.2% of the population. Most, but not all, authorities normalise follow this convention. The following table[20] showing the normalisation values used by some for 2017 entry (tests taken in 2016).

Poster on the wall of Labour Party office in Westminster in 2012

The eleven-plus was a result of the major changes which took place in English and Welsh 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 implementation of this break by the Butler Act seemed to offer an ideal opportunity to implement streaming, since all children would be changing school anyway. Thus testing at eleven emerged largely as a historical accident, without other specific reasons for testing at that age.

The test, composed of Maths, English and Verbal Reasoning could not be passed by ten-year-olds who had not been trained for the test. A former highmaster of Manchester Grammar School asserted on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze that no child who had not seen the verbal reasoning tests that formed the basis of the 11-plus before attempting them would have a "hope in hell" of passing them, he had dispensed with the 11-plus as "worthless". Instead he used personal interviews.[24] Children in school were drilled in the 11-plus until it was "coming out of their ears". Families had to play the system, little booklets were available from local newsagents that showed how to pass the exam and contained many past papers with all the answers provided, which the children then learned by rote.[24]

Criticism of the eleven-plus arose on a number of grounds, though many related more to the wider education system than to academic selection generally or the eleven-plus specifically. The proportions of schoolchildren gaining a place at a grammar school varied by location and sex. 35% of pupils in the South West secured grammar school places as opposed to 10% in Nottinghamshire.[25] In some areas, because of the continuance of single-sex schooling in those areas, there were sometimes fewer places for girls than for boys. Some areas were coeducational and had equal number of places for each gender.

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.[26] For example, questions about the role of household servants or classical composers were far easier for middle-class children to answer than for those from less wealthy or less educated backgrounds. In response, the eleven-plus was redesigned during the 1960s to be more like an IQ test. However, even after this modification, grammar schools were largely attended by middle-class children while secondary modern schools were attended by mostly working-class children.[27][28][29] By testing cognitive skills the child's innate ability is evaluated as a predictor to future academic performance and is largely independent of background and support. The problem lies with the testing of academic subjects, such as Maths and English, where a child from a working class background with a less supportive school and less educated parents is being measured on their learning environment instead of potential to succeed.

Passing – or not passing – the eleven-plus was a "defining moment in many lives", with education viewed as "the silver bullet for enhanced social mobility."[30] Richard Hoggart claimed in 1961 that "what happens in thousands of homes is that the eleven-plus examination is identified in the minds of parents, not with 'our Jimmy is a clever lad and he's going to have his talents trained', but 'our Jimmy is going to move into another class, he's going to get a white-collar job' or something like that."[31]

• Taylor, Matthew (28 July 2005). "PAT, dissenting teaching union, calls for return of 11-plus". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
• Beckett, Francis (15 October 2002). "Not so special after all". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
• Baker, Mike (15 February 2003). "What future for grammar schools?". BBC News. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
• "School admissions 'socially divisive'". BBC News. 31 January 2003. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
• "State schools 'failing brightest pupils'". The Guardian. 23 May 2005. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
• "11 Plus Forum – Free Eleven Plus Exams Help". 11 Plus Guide. Retrieved 16 October 2018. Guide for parents, details of regional peculiarities.
• "11 Plus – What is the 11 Plus". eGuruzone. Retrieved 27 May 2020. What is 11 the Plus.
• "11 Plus Exam – Questions and Answers for Parents" School Entrance Exam. Retrieved 20th January 2021.