Few subjects outside religion and politics stir up such passions in Northern Ireland as the 11-plus exam which determines the academic future of about 18,000 primary school pupils each year.
The exam consists of two one hour papers in English, maths and science and is sat by the vast majority of 10 and 11year-olds, a third of whom go on to grammar school, with the rest proceeding to secondary school.
Supporters of the transfer test feel that it has been the cornerstone of the North's education system's success which regularly outperforms its counterparts in England and Wales in terms of A-level results. Its detractors say it labels two thirds of all 11year-olds as failures, a tag many cannot come to terms with for the rest of their lives.
Following publication of the Gallagher report on education last September, the Education Minister, Mr Martin McGuinness, appointed a team of independent educational experts under the chairmanship of the former Northern Ireland ombudsman, Mr Gerry Burns, to look into the future of the 11plus.
Since then, the Review Body on Post-Primary Education has held public consultations with more than 3,000 people as well as receiving more than 1,000 written submissions and undertaking research trips to other European countries to study education systems there. The body is due to report back to the Minister in October.
Last week, however, Mr McGuinness appeared to pre-empt the review body's findings when in an address to the Irish National Teachers' Organisation's (INTO) Northern conference he came out strongly in favour of abolishing the exam. So has he not made his own experts redundant?
"Not at all," he said. "I have always been consistent in my sentiments on the 11-plus. It just can't be right that 12,000 youngsters toddle downstairs every spring and lift an envelope that has failure written all over it. It is unfair and iniquitous, and I want it abolished."
While Mr McGuinness himself is living proof that there is life and a successful career after a failed 11-plus, opponents of the exam say it leads to a distorted curriculum, as much of the academic year leading up to it is spent on coaching and mock exams.
Social divisions also come into play as parents from socially better-off backgrounds often pay for private tuition for their children before the test. So which of the four replacement options does he favour: selection at the age of 14 as currently practised in Co Armagh under the Dickson plan; a European system of common primary and lower secondary education followed by differentiated upper secondary education; a differentiated secondary system with distinctive academic and vocational routes; or an all-comprehensive system as supported by the teacher unions?
"Let's be clear, this is not about when or how to test, to select or not to select or to follow an academic or vocational route. It is about enabling all our children to realise their full potential as individuals through their own strengths and talents," Mr McGuinness said.
"I don't want to make the task of the Review Body any more difficult than it already is by pre-empting their deliberations. They have a great love of education, and I have a lot of faith in them. The truth is that this is the single most important education issue we are tackling, and whatever decision we make, we are bound to face some antagonism."
The INTO's Northern secretary, Mr Frank Bunting, says his organisation has left Mr McGuinness in no doubt that nothing short of a complete abolition of selection and replacement with a comprehensive system will do.
"We won't allow the Minister to retain any kind of system where teachers have to make individual judgments on children and then become the target of parents' anger, or one where they have to pick up the pieces and rebuild children's self-esteem after a failed exam. Even a later selection procedure at 14, as under Dickson, does not create the continuity and parity of esteem we so desperately need."
The assistant general secretary of the Ulster Teachers' Union, Ms Avril Hall-Callaghan, also supports an all-comprehensive system but concedes that this cannot be achieved overnight. "We would be flexible in terms of time-scale, maybe accepting transitory solutions such as Dickson as a stepping-stone," she said. Despite the strong sentiments, it appears that Mr McGuinness has built a positive rapport with most teachers' representatives. "Generally speaking, it is like day and night to have a devolved minister," said Frank Bunting.
"I feel Martin McGuinness has made it his business to be as visible and user-friendly as possible. As to the 11-plus, I think he is on the right track. Overall marks out of 10? I'd give him seven."
The Minister takes that as a compliment. "That almost sounds like an B-plus to me. Joking aside, I very much value a close working relationship with all teachers. After all, they are the people we send our children and grandchildren to every morning.
"We have achieved a lot in the 16 months since devolution: a £200 million sterling investment in school buildings, the abolition of league tables, the current reforms of the curriculum and of school funding. But no doubt there is still a steep learning curve ahead."