Former education minister Martin McGuinness has met the Northern Ireland Office minister who has taken over his department following the suspension of devolution.

Mr McGuinness met Jane Kennedy on Thursday following his appeals during the last sitting of the assembly on Monday that his decision to abolish the 11-plus transfer test be upheld.

The issue of how to reform Northern Ireland's system for primary school pupils transferring to secondary-level education has been a major source of controversy.

Mr McGuinness made the decision to abolish the 11-plus and find a new system to replace the current academic selection process, three days before devolution was suspended.

The decision was one of Mr McGuinness' final acts as education minister

Northern Ireland's devolved political institutions were suspended at midnight on Monday because of the latest crisis over allegations of IRA spying within the Northern Ireland Office.

In addition to her current role as security minister, Ms Kennedy has taken on the education portfolio, and responsibility for employment and learning.

But the issue of whether the 11-plus should be scrapped is particularly pressing following the conclusion last month of a major consultation exercise on the Burns report, which recommended ending academic selection.

During ministerial question time at the assembly on Monday, Mr McGuinness said he hoped his decision to abolish the 11-plus test by 2004 would be upheld.

He said there was overwhelming support for the abolition of the test and he was determined the public desire to get rid of it would not be thwarted by political developments.

Jane Kennedy: Education portfolio

However, he did not propose a new transfer system to replace the 11-plus test.

Opposition to Mr McGuinness's plan to scrap academic selection has been forthcoming, both from the grammar schools and the two main unionist parties.

Ulster Unionist education committee member Ken Robinson said the minister's move was "an act of political opportunism and educational folly".

DUP assembly member Sammy Wilson also accused the minister of ignoring the results of the survey he had commissioned.

A previous report recommending the scrapping of the 11-plus was shelved in 1971 because the then devolved assembly was suspended.