To ask the Minister of Education, further to his statement on 31 December 2020, whether post-primary transfer tests will go ahead as planned, be delayed or cancelled in schools in January 2021.

You will be aware the Post Primary Test Consortium announced that it has cancelled the GL assessment for this year. AQE Ltd also announced that it has cancelled its January tests and instead proposes to run a single test on 27 February subject to the public health advice which applies at that time.

There is no bar which would prevent primary schools from hosting the tests but this is a matter for individual schools.

My preference is for primary schools to host the transfer tests and indeed in 2016 I removed the instruction that had previously prevented this from happening. However, any move away from the current arrangements would require the consent of all primary schools and I cannot compel them to agree to this. However, I would urge the test providers, Principals and Boards of Governors to work together with parents and pupils to seek agreement on how this could facilitated in future years.