Eleven Plus Research

It is probably time for some research into the eleven plus. The internet has helped to expose the strengths and weaknesses traditional eleven plus materials. The same internet has allowed an abundance of materials to flood into homes. There is no case for regulation but a controlled trial may offer some parents useful information.

There is no time and no place for an experiment into the value of different teaching materials – because this would be very risky for the families and the children involved. An investigation could, however, cover at least three main areas:

1. Do eleven plus materials actually boost a child’s performance?

2. Would children have made the same progress if different materials had been used?

3. Do children forget everything they have learnt very soon after the examination?

The trial would need to have a number of schools that would be willing to participate. There would be little point in conducting a trial if the head and all his staff were violently opposed to the eleven plus. If schools were not willing to co-operate then alternative methods of sampling would be needed.

The eleven plus work could be tested against reading and verbal reasoning quotients – and some areas would be able to add mathematics. Children would be tested before starting on any eleven plus work – and then re-tested after six or seven months.

The children who were in the control group (no eleven plus stimulation) would simply continue with ordinary work.

We would expect:

1. Eleven plus materials do not really help.

2. Different materials do not really make a difference.

3. Children will forget most of what they have been taught within six months of the eleven plus.

The report would be published and read with considerable anticipation by widely varying groups. Anti eleven campaigners would be able to latch onto some of the findings to prove that the eleven plus is a vile and un-necessary examination. Some parents would be grateful that they had an opportunity of helping to determine their child’s future – with out being told that the National Curriculum: `Does not do it that way.” Tutors would read into the conclusions what ever they wanted to find. Other parents would acknowledge the value of the research but would continue to try to do the best for their children. The lives of the researchers would be examined. At least two researchers would land up on the couches of the early morning news programs.

Publishers would continue to publish.

Examiners would continue to examine.

Parents would continue to worry.

Children would continue to sail through the year.

Life would go on.

An Eleven Plus Song

Before the 1944 Education Act some parents had a choice about where their child was to be educated. If you had money you could choose to have your child educated privately. Parents with less money could not easily make a choice – hence the introduction of the eleven plus.

We could write the words of a song:

She had the money, he had the talent.
She had her school, he had his.
He was a late developer, she developed early.
He has no preparation, she was taught and taught.

Chorus
Oh! The Eleven Plus
Oh! The Eleven Plus
Better jobs, better professions
Doors closed on those who can not pass.

She had the culture, he had the drive.
Her back ground was rich, his was impoverished.
He was outside the zone, she lived near the school.
He had desire, she had birth and brains.

Chorus
Oh! The Eleven Plus
Oh! The Eleven Plus
Better jobs, better professions
Doors closed on those who can not pass.

Perhaps the eleven plus tests need to take into account children at schools who do not teach to the eleven plus – to try to nullify, to a certain extent, the effect of educational and cultural advantage. There must be a number of schools which seldom send a child to grammar schools – and lucky children at other schools where a good proportion of children have a better chance – or even a fairer chance.

The eleven plus examination takes place on a certain day at a specified time. There is little room for compromise. The examination, in its present form, can not take into account the preparation a child has had at an ambitious school – nor can the papers make allowances for children with few books and opportunities at home.

She passed with joy, his heart was sad.
She went to grammar, he could only dream.
He went on to get a first, she managed a third.
He had the drive, she had the advantage.

Chorus
Oh! The Eleven Plus
Oh! The Eleven Plus
Better jobs, better professions
Doors can open for those who could not pass.

The Eleven Plus Gang

“I leave the eleven plus stuff to my wife.”

“I don’t do the eleven plus. My husband does all the work.”

“My mother is a retired teacher and she does all the eleven plus work with her grand daughter.”

Some of the more entertaining of the eleven plus questions must pull all of the family in. Parents have the ability to do well at most eleven plus questions because they have wisdom and experience. These are great substitutes for burning desire and ability.

The role of an observer to the eleven plus journey is not always straight forward. The word ethnology springs to mind. An ethnologist is a person who studies the many facets of other humans. One such man was the sociologist William Foote Whyte. He made a study of an Italian slum corner just before the Second World War. He met up with the leader of the gang and gradually became assimilated into the gang’s various activities.

Whyte learnt to speak Italian and took part in many of the gang’s activities. He was taught how to gamble and to bowl. He also engaged in other activities that have no part in the rambling of an eleven plus blog. Gradually he became more and more involved in the life style of the gang – and then he suddenly realised that he was no longer an observer – but was an accepted member of the gang.

Much the same feeling of `incorporation’ must occur during the approach to the eleven plus examination. Bit by bit members of the family have to become involved in the `eleven plus gang’. The eleven plus gang has to learn new and old facts. Work has to be done on papers. The question of timing becomes important. Forgotten skills and attributes have to be revived and brought into the open for scrutiny.

There will be a gradual shift of priorities where the observer becomes a participant. Once this paradigm shift is in place, the roles of the various members of the family will change. It may be that `mother’ has a hitherto unknown ability in solving anagrams and codes. The `father’ may be a true and sustainable expert in withstanding specious arguments about the value of study and the worthiness of reading. The younger sibling may have a more comprehensive knowledge of tables.

What the eleven plus child has to cope with is a shifting of the roles within the family. Some of the shifts could be seismic –almost like the displacement of rocks at a fault. Imagine that grandpa can do more than play golf and moan – he is really good at maths – and he can make jokes about how much to study! Auntie Isabella is not just the quickest slurper of a Martine in the family – she is also good at non verbal reasoning questions.

Little bit by little bit the eleven plus will become part of the history and the fabric of the evolving family. The family, for example, may start with assumptions about the candidate – and then find new facets that can be burnished and polished. The child may have categorised the family into different and discrete `units’ – and then finds that he or she has to re-evaluate and re-think his or her role.

Is Our Present Eleven Plus Syllabus Too Narrow?

“The eleven plus examination, as it stands at the moment, is an `ism’ not an `ology’. Discuss.”

This is one of the questions that prospective eleven plus parents will have to pass before submitting their children to the stresses and strains of the eleven plus. “Antidisestablishmentarianism”, for example, is an `ism’ – as is magnetism but Kidology and Physiology are `ologys’.

Eleven plusism implies a belief in the eleven plus and what it stands for while eleven plusology is to do with the study of the eleven plus – as well as the study by children and parents within the eleven plus.

Our eleven plus children are subjected to the `ology’ side of the eleven plus – because this is to do with studying a particular branch of knowledge – where every thing is limited towards the examination. It is no good studying something of interest outside of eleven plus work because it won’t come up in the examination.

The ologys are not completely finite. Skills learnt in verbal reasoning exercises may sometimes be carried across into non verbal reading exercises.

Eleven plus `isms’, however have the power to be able to lead parents into realms far beyond the remit of the examination. Big Brotherism is an example of an ism that transcends taste while tribalism leads to thoughts of football crowds.

If we see or hear the word criticism in connection with the eleven plus we think immediately of parents worrying that they are not doing enough for their child. If criticism comes into a child’s vocabulary we must surmise that the child is feeling despondent about the attitude of his or her parents.

Some parents may choose, when possible, not to involve their children so deeply in the eleven plus to the exclusion of other activities. It may be better to shun the ism side of the eleven plus and go for a much wider ology.

ReadinG problems and the Eleven Plus

Some eleven plus children will be approaching their eleven plus examinations with a reading problem. All eleven plus children have to write the same examination – but not all children have similar reading skills. Some children may even have a descriptive label while others, with similar problems, may be in a system that does not recognise the `specific learning problem’.

Some children are in schools where there are specialist teachers who are able to support the classroom teachers. Some eleven plus children may even be in a class where the teacher is trained in coping with children with difficulties in reading. Other children may be withdrawn to a special class – while others are helped by specialist and well trained teachers.

Children are usually offered extra help at school after a full and comprehensive examination or battery of relevant tests. Most classroom teachers will be aware of the child’s problems but may not have the tools to be able to help the child in their care. Naturally most eleven plus parents will have been aware of problems with reading and interpretation of questions – and will have tried to help their children as best they can.

Some eleven plus parents may feel that they are forced to become politically orientated towards trying to apply pressure on some one or some body in order for their child to have the best possible opportunity in the examination. The political orientation is probably not to do with party politics – but with a pragmatic desire to make something happen.

If parents take their child to twenty different eleven plus teachers they will be offered twenty different opinions on the effect of the perceived reading problem on the child’s ability to cope with examination papers. The different eleven plus teachers may have varying methods of assessment – and will certainly have different methods of trying to help the child.

It is likely that some parents will listen respectfully to the different eleven plus teachers –while others may feel inclined to argue. Some eleven plus tutors, for example, may focus attention on perceived behaviour problems while others could focus on lack of attention. Some tutors may be trained in reading problems as well as the eleven plus while other may tend to specialise in the delivering good eleven plus lessons.

Some eleven plus teachers may have difficulty in accepting that a child is dyslexic. Some parents may feel they understand a lot of educational problems once their child has been diagnosed as dyslexic. In the similar manner some children will accept they have a problem and endeavour to move on – while other children may feel the need, at times, to blame their `dyslexia’ for all types of ills.

It is most likely, however, that a child with a reading problem, whether labelled or not, probably needs compassion, understanding, comprehension and interest. After all the examination is hard enough without the child experiencing the additional difficulty of being not entirely sure of what is being read.

Parents, of course, have one massive advantage over all the specialists, teachers, tutors, psychologists, ophthalmologists, therapists, doctors, paediatricians, hearing specialists and neurologists – and that is that parents have that wonderful ingredient called love.

ReadinG problems and the Eleven Plus

Some eleven plus children will be approaching their eleven plus examinations with a reading problem. All eleven plus children have to write the same examination – but not all children have similar reading skills. Some children may even have a descriptive label while others, with similar problems, may be in a system that does not recognise the `specific learning problem’.

Some children are in schools where there are specialist teachers who are able to support the classroom teachers. Some eleven plus children may even be in a class where the teacher is trained in coping with children with difficulties in reading. Other children may be withdrawn to a special class – while others are helped by specialist and well trained teachers.

Children are usually offered extra help at school after a full and comprehensive examination or battery of relevant tests. Most classroom teachers will be aware of the child’s problems but may not have the tools to be able to help the child in their care. Naturally most eleven plus parents will have been aware of problems with reading and interpretation of questions – and will have tried to help their children as best they can.

Some eleven plus parents may feel that they are forced to become politically orientated towards trying to apply pressure on some one or some body in order for their child to have the best possible opportunity in the examination. The political orientation is probably not to do with party politics – but with a pragmatic desire to make something happen.

If parents take their child to twenty different eleven plus teachers they will be offered twenty different opinions on the effect of the perceived reading problem on the child’s ability to cope with examination papers. The different eleven plus teachers may have varying methods of assessment – and will certainly have different methods of trying to help the child.

It is likely that some parents will listen respectfully to the different eleven plus teachers –while others may feel inclined to argue. Some eleven plus tutors, for example, may focus attention on perceived behaviour problems while others could focus on lack of attention. Some tutors may be trained in reading problems as well as the eleven plus while other may tend to specialise in the delivering good eleven plus lessons.

Some eleven plus teachers may have difficulty in accepting that a child is dyslexic. Some parents may feel they understand a lot of educational problems once their child has been diagnosed as dyslexic. In the similar manner some children will accept they have a problem and endeavour to move on – while other children may feel the need, at times, to blame their `dyslexia’ for all types of ills.

It is most likely, however, that a child with a reading problem, whether labelled or not, probably needs compassion, understanding, comprehension and interest. After all the examination is hard enough without the child experiencing the additional difficulty of being not entirely sure of what is being read.

Parents, of course, have one massive advantage over all the specialists, teachers, tutors, psychologists, ophthalmologists, therapists, doctors, paediatricians, hearing specialists and neurologists – and that is that parents have that wonderful ingredient called love.

A Child's View of the Eleven Plus

What on earth could possibly stop your eleven plus child from wanting to work on a steady and sustained basis? After all you, as fond loving parents, have offered every opportunity. You have bought papers, books, engaged the best possible tutor and even called upon Auntie Annabelle who is the really intelligent one in the family. You can do no more.

Your ever loving child, however, has different ideas. In his or her life the eleven plus has a place but the examination is not the focal point of existence. You settle down to one of those 8.30 on a Sunday morning chats. (These are the discussions that your child regards with dread and fear.)

“Do you think, dear, you could suggest why you do not choose to work on a regular basis at your eleven plus work?”

“Certainly, mother. Thank you for offering me the opportunity to offer my point of view. Here are a few of my ideas.”

“Tell us what you think,” suggested dad.

“Number one. Eleven plus work breaks my leisure. I never get free blocks of time to pursue any activity I am interested in. You have stopped my swimming, my horse riding and my archery classes. All I have to do is work and work.”

“That is not entirely fair, dear, but do go on. We are interested.”

“Secondly I have to do too many different activities to do with the eleven plus. I have to do papers, work with dad and you, go to a tutor and even have to listen to Auntie Annabelle – and you do know how I feel about her.”

“Oh dear. We did not realise how you felt. We are only just trying to help.”

“You see, mum, dad, I suffer from a severe lack of opportunity to be rewarded by my endeavours. You expect me to keep working without any chance of financial reward.”

“Now look. You can not have everything. You had Florida last year. This year we are going to Rome. Your work towards the Eleven Plus does not, and should not, need to be rewarded.”

“Mum, dad, you have to let me have the freedom to make my own judgements about the eleven plus. I respect your thoughts on extra pocket money. I will not raise the subject again. I am just losing contact with the outside world. It is just work and more work. I can not see any way out of the cycle.”

“Once again we have come to the end of our little chat. Just do that paper you promised earlier in the week. Show it to me before we leave.”

“Oh mum.

Oh dad.

I never can win.”

Eleven Plus Predictions

Every now and then the minds of some parents must wander in the direction of: “How well is my child doing towards the Eleven Plus?” Suppose your child is at a mixed school where there are two Year 5 classes. You could obtain some data from the scores of all the children in the year group.

In one scenario the school could usually help around 27 children to pass the eleven plus in any given year. A different school could reflect on why only three or four children out of the year group pass.

You could obtain a lot of data from looking at the scores from the children’s results. It would be considerably less easy to try to work who is going to pass by trying to predict pass scores. It may even be easier to try to work out whether more boys than girls will pass. In this exercise there are thirty boys and 20 girls.

Hypothesis One:
The chances of more boys than girls pass is random.

Hypothesis Two:
The chance of more boys than girls passing is not random.

Decisions on whether more boys than girls are likely to pass can only be made if it is accepted that some ten year old girls are more likely to pass than some boys. If this hypothesis is also rejected then it becomes even more difficult to predict which boys and which girls will pass.