Teachers hit out at politicians

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/7409084.stm

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Teachers' leaders have called on politicians who oppose plans to end academic selection to "stop living in the past".

The five main teachers' unions have been meeting the education minister.

They said that while they broadly supported Caitriona Ruane's plans, they were worried about extending the testing for an extra three years.

The unions said they were concerned that unionist politicians were "totally resistant to the minister's plans".

BBC NI education correspondent Maggie Taggart said that while the unions were in favour of change, they believed some political parties seemed to be spending an inordinate amount of effort to remain fixed in the past and retain certain schools at all costs.

One leader asked why the politicians could not compromise on the issue when they had managed to form a power-sharing assembly.

They said the stalemate could not be allowed to continue.

However, the unions said they were concerned about the impact on the new style of primary school teaching, if academic testing was to be extended for another three years.