Ulster Unionist Party leader Jon Burrows has called for the education debate in Northern Ireland to move away from the transfer test and instead focus on stemming the brain drain and improving vocational training.

Burrows said the discussion should address two main challenges: ensuring enough academic places, apprenticeships, and employment opportunities to keep young people in Northern Ireland, and creating attractive, well-funded vocational pathways that are valued equally with academic routes.

He said academic selection has flaws but remains the only option in the absence of a viable alternative such as selection at age 14. Parents should retain the right to choose their child's school, he said.

Burrows argued that too much time is spent arguing about the transfer test while too little attention is given to the narrowing of options at Key Stages 4 and 5 and to what happens to young people after they leave school.

He also said the debate should stop presenting entry to grammar school as the ultimate goal, noting that Northern Ireland has excellent schools across every sector and a child's worth should not be judged by the school they attend.