A WEBSITE ranking schools' performance in literacy and numeracy, 'myschool.edu.au' went online last week, leading to threats of industrial action from education unions and a shower of criticism from other representative bodies.
The New England branch of the NSW Teacher's Federation was among those with reservations about the site.
Federation president Mel Smith said the online information itself was not the problem.
“Teachers are certainly not opposed to parents and the community being provided withdata about schools and we are not opposed to appropriate information being placed on the web,” she said.
“We are concerned that much of the information the government has on the "My School' website is misleading and open to misinterpretation.”
The Myschool website offers a profile of all government schools, including their performance in literacy, numeracy and punctuation, using raw data collected from the National Assessment Plan - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), a national assessment program for school-aged children.
Myschool.edu.au also provides other data, like the percentage of Indigenous students, the school's size, the number of teachers, vocational education programs and statements about each school, written by members of staff of the school itself.
New England Branch of the NSW Teacher's Federation was one of an overwhelming majority of votes to respond to the site with a boycott on NAPLAN testing.
“We are not opposed to NAPLAN tests," Ms Smith said.
“Parents already get a detailed report on their child's performance in these national assessments, including comparisons to the national average.
Education Union members, including members of NSW Teachers’ Federation are concerned that the online information gives an incomplete and damaging profile of so-called ‘disadvantaged’ schools.
“What does the information relating to disadvantage mean?
“What conclusions should one draw from absentee rates, the number of Aboriginal students, income, and so on?
“It will not enable parents to determine if one school is better or poorer than another, or indicate the quality of teaching.”
Ms Smith said the unions' primary concern was that the information could be gathered together and published in a way that could besmirch schools' reputations.
“Because the Federal Government has not put legislative safeguards in place, damaging league tables could easily be published," she said.
“Two decades of experience in England and the US have shown just how damaging they are, distorting what is taught and leading to schools, and leading to students and communities being unfairly named, blamed and shamed.
“In Australia, league tables are opposed by the national organisations of teachers, principals and parents because we know how harmful they can be.”
Ms Smith said much of the information on the myschool.edu.au would be obvious to parents anyway.
“We don't need league tables to work out which schools are struggling and need extra resources,” she said.
“Governments have had this information for years.
“If league tables are published, the Australian Education Union (AEU) has stated that its executive will meet in April to determine a ban on the 2010 NAPLAN (to be held in May) to prevent the publication of future league tables.”
Ms Smith said a ban on publication of leagues tables should not be considered a block to freedom of information.
“A law banning leagues tables' publication in NSW has existed for more than a decade without any outcry,” she said,
“Other laws, including the Family Law Act, also protect young people and ban publication of information which could be harmful.”
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