A question of selection
It's not just when it comes to post primary transfer that academic selection is a hot topic. The whole business of passing and failing tests is raising anxiety amongst the Assembly staff. The 200 members of NIPSA (the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance) have asked their union to ballot on possible industrial action in a row over written tests which applicants for the jobs of Assembly Clerks and Assistant Clerks sat last summer.
More than 500 people sat the tests, and, according to the union, 63% of them failed. Those who failed aren't, apparently, being selected for interview for the jobs, which are yet to be filled.
NIPSA's Noel Griffin isn't convinced the tests were directly relevant to the jobs due to be filled. At least one section seems to have involved some fairly advanced mathematics. The union also wants to know what the impact of the tests has been on the gender and age profile of the field of applicants.
Unhappy staff are threatening to protest outside Stormont next month. What would happen if the Education Committee cannot make progress on an initiative to sort out the row over academic selection because its staff are on strike in a different row over academic selection?
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As an outsider looking in, and not a member of what seems to be the cosy club at Stormont, this storm over assessment selection smacks of typical public sector jobs for the boys.
As I undertand it, the results of the selection process have not been made public, however the NIPSA representatives obviously feel the tests were too hard for their members, without knowing who from their membership passed or failed the tests!!!
All applicants are equal, but NIPSA obviously think their candidates are more equal than others, as they deserve an easier test.
As a private sector employee who applied for one of these roles, I feel my chances are be weakened by a Union, who doesn't represent myself or several hundred other applicants, throwing their toys out the pram because their members found the selection process difficult. No wonder the Public Sector has a reputation for being a closed shop!!!
I sat this test and really could not believe how difficult it was in relation to the nature of work we would be required to do. It should be scrapped wether you are in the public or private sector.
Sifting for interview could have been completed based on the applications alone - what a waste of time and money!!!
Apparently the NI Assembly want to become "an employer of choice". If they are ever to realise this dream they need to get their act together. Whether the test are valid or not (we could argue that all day) the fact is that the process has taken far too long. Those people to be interviewed have still not been notified and it will take several more months before the interviews have taken place, the successful candidates approached and their notices etc worked - BEFORE they take up appointment!!!
Until the Assembly is run by competent people their dreams are never going to come true.