The 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.