Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

Last month saw a major advance in terms of the transparency of our education system as school inspection reports became available to the public for the first time. The publication of whole-school evaluation reports in particular will ensure that parents and other stakeholders have access to balanced and fair information on the wide range of activities in which schools are involved. WSE reports identify when schools and teachers are working to optimum effect and where improvements are needed. They provide a fair analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of schools in a way that can provide a real indication of school quality. In this way they not only provide valuable information for parents but also help to foster improvement in schools and spread best practice.

The reports do not contain exam results as these would give rise to league tables. Such tables can only provide a narrow and limited measure of the effectiveness of schools. Given the very negative experience with league tables in the UK, I remain puzzled why the Deputy is so eager to follow that bad example in this country. I remain opposed to proposals to judge schools purely on their exam results, thereby ghettoising schools in disadvantaged areas, penalising those with inclusive enrolment policies and encouraging an even greater emphasis on exams at the expense of the other activities in which schools are involved. Nonetheless, I appreciate that parents are eager for more information on our schools. The publication of inspection reports will go some way to meeting that desire.

By last Thursday, 29 June, a total of 154 inspection reports arising from inspections in primary and post-primary schools had been published. These include 36 WSE reports on primary schools, five post-primary WSE reports and 113 subject inspection reports. Each WSE report contains a summary of the main strengths and areas for development identified in the work of the school. In 2006 it is planned to undertake whole-school evaluations in 216 primary schools and 57 post-primary schools. The inspection rate may vary from year to year but, clearly, it will take some time to reach all schools.

However, whole-school evaluations represent just one aspect of the work of the inspectorate of my Department. At post-primary level, for example, in addition to WSE, 428 stand-alone subject inspections will be undertaken in post-primary schools this year. These inspections provide very valuable and focused information on teaching, learning and curriculum provision in an individual subject in a post-primary school. Taking WSE inspections and subject inspections together, it is expected that more than 470 of the 735 post-primary schools in the State will have an external evaluation by the inspectorate this year.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

In addition to external evaluation, schools are encouraged to undertake more frequent self-review. The "Looking at our School" guidelines sent to all schools by the Department were developed to aid such self-evaluation. Naturally, interaction with parents is a very important part of the self-evaluation process. Many schools also produce comprehensive newsletters and reports for parents. I have seen many excellent examples of these and strongly encourage all schools to do as much as they can to inform parents about their activities. While the publication of inspection reports means that parents will have access to a much greater level of information than ever before, this is just one of a number of initiatives to improve the quality of our education system and to provide more information for parents. I am committed to further measures to improve the quality of education provided to our children and young people.

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