Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 25 November 2004
8 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Education and Science if she intends to allow for the release of a greater amount of information on the performance of schools to parents; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30475/04]
View answerThe Deputy's question refers to the performance of schools and I want to begin by reflecting on what constitutes school performance. The true measure of a school's achievement is the extent to which it enables each student to realise his or her full potential as an individual and as a member of society. Each young person is unique. Each enters our education system with different skills and attributes and each comes from a different family background. The job of the school is to take that unique person and equip him or her to live a worthwhile and fulfilling life.
When we talk about school performance, it is not good enough to apply a single superficial measure, be it examination results or levels of college entry, and to categorise a school as succeeding or failing on that basis. Unfortunately, there is a real tendency to do just that. I was appalled to see in The Sunday Times last week selective and misleading league tables under the headline “Rural schools a failure”. This conclusion is based solely on levels of entry to university. This is an elitist, misleading and outrageous evaluation of the essence of every school.
I favour the release of information that is fair and meaningful and can benefit the child. I do not, however, favour the release of information that allows for schools to be unfairly labelled as the worst in the country, as another headline indicated in reference to an area where, in the journalist's opinion, "the worst performing schools were located", or to be labelled the best in the country based on narrow criteria. For this reason, I will continue to refuse to release examination results on a case by case basis. I am, however, very much in favour of parents having access to meaningful information. I intend to consider, in consultation with the education partners, how we can improve in this area.
I support the concept of information being given to parents and I stress that information on individual teachers or students should never be made public. However, we are now allowing the very worst scenario to obtain in that newspapers are able to obtain such information and use very limited criteria to evaluate schools and, in some cases, students from particular areas. On the basis of what was stated in The Sunday Times and repeated in the media on Monday, the students from my constituency appear to be the worst in the country. This is not the case.
What does the Minister intend to do about this issue? Unless clearer criteria are established regarding the information to be released to parents, such that they can make decisions on a school as a whole and what is available therein, parents will continue to make decisions based on insufficient criteria and on examination results alone, such as were published in the newspapers. The summaries provided in Monday's newspapers were particularly misleading because they dealt only with universities and made no mention of institutes of technology. This is of concern because many students from rural constituencies go to institutes of technology for geographical reasons rather than for any other reason.
What are the Minister's intentions? Does she believe legislation needs to be introduced so that meaningful and useful information that is not limited to academic criteria can be provided?
The Deputy and I agree on many aspects of this issue. Obviously, it is difficult to state in tabular form all the work that is done in a school. One cannot account for the dedication to sport, music, cross-Border exchanges, social work and work experience, for example, or the fact that most schools derive as much pleasure from a very weak student receiving a pass in his leaving certificate as they do from a very bright student obtaining eight A grades. These phenomena are very difficult to put on paper. At the same time, there is a need for information for a range of people. Parents want information about their local schools to find the one that best suits their children. Boards of management and teachers obviously require information on the ways in which they need to change and adapt to suit their needs. Local authorities, State agencies, health boards and various services including the National Educational Psychological Service, the National Educational Welfare Board and the National Council for Special Education all require information. Information is required in the provision of support services and in terms of site acquisitions and the use of land in an area. The Department needs it for decision making and policy making.
We need a process by which we can obtain information required by everybody but not allow it to be used in league table form or for comparative purposes. We need to work very closely with all the education partners to ascertain how we could provide information in a way that would ultimately benefit the child and not the sale of newspapers. I know the education partners are willing to do this
I concur with both the Minister and Deputy Enright on the narrowness of the information published in the newspapers and on the headline in particular. I felt that rural schools fared quite well if one took all the information, including that pertaining to ITs, into account. State schools, non-fee-paying schools, did quite well in the broader picture.
I urge the Minister to take proactive measures. What specifically does she intend to do in terms of drawing up a broad policy on the kind of information that needs to be circulated and on how we can counteract the use of inadequate information?
The Deputy will be aware that my predecessor conducted quite a large consultation process, the YES process, throughout the country. As part of this process, an attitudinal survey was carried out which indicated that parents want more information. There is considerable public support for this.
People find the whole-school evaluation to be very positive. Perhaps there are ways of using the information gleaned in this process in which inspectors visit schools and involve the teachers, principals, students and parents. Such information highlights the best aspects of a school rather than its academic achievements and identifies how it targets each child. It is time to strike a balance between providing the information required and ensuring it is not used inappropriately. I am genuinely trying to do this at present.
