Eleven Plus Challenges

There is a theory, but I am not sure how much it applies to the eleven plus, that there are Tool Makers and Tool Users.

An Eleven Plus Tool Maker may be a child who is able to use what he or she has learnt in preparing for the eleven plus examination. The Tool Make may go on in life to feel that it is fun and `correct’ to be academically challenged. The challenge is not offered in the sense that the child does not have ability – it is to do with the child wanting to meet new academic challenges.  

An Eleven Plus Tool User could be a child who attends to eleven plus work dutifully and, we hope, willingly. The `User’ will apply an `Eleven Plus’ knowledge of fractions in the classroom – and will, we hope, gain lots of kudos for being clever. Will this knowledge, however, translate into a desire to explore mathematical and other subjects and topics involving fractions?

It may be interesting to look at what an eleven plus child learns during the week. From the following list is it possible to say if the child is being developed to become a maker or a user?

Learning Activities	Tool Maker	Tool User
Learning from Experts
Learning from Others
Learning through Making
Learning through Exploring
Learning through Inquiry
Learning through Practising
Learning across Settings
Learning from Assessment

When our eleven plus child walks into the grammar school on the first day, will the eleven plus preparation, contribute towards the child approaching education as a maker or a user? Of course we need Users but we also need the Makers to make things happen.