Seanad debates

Wednesday, 12 November 2014

Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2014: Report Stage

 

12:40 pm

Photo of Averil PowerAveril Power (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The issue is that the language in section 7(4) is broad in that it refers to information in relation to:


(i) recognised schools in respect of the academic achievement of students, or
(ii) education or training facilities in respect of the academic achievement of learners...
"Education or training facilities" is extremely broad and covers everything that happens within a school environment. I am reassured by the fact that the language used on the next page in section 7(4), paragraphs I and II, is more specific, stating the specified information includes:
without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing—
(I) the overall results or outcomes in any period of time of students in a recognised school or learners in an education or training facility in an examination or assessment, or
(II) the comparative overall results or outcomes in any period of time of students in different recognised schools or learners in different education or training facilities in an examination or assessment,
It is clear from the later language used that it is aimed at academic results and information that would allow the media, in particular, to compare academic results. In the earlier language used, "including but not limited to", it is more specific that the intention is that it be only about academic results, but because it only includes academic results, it gives the Minister power under the regulations to have it broader than this. I think the Minister has made it clear that her intention is only to prevent league table results.
It is welcome that more information is now available from schools and that inspection reports - whole school evaluations, etc. - are published online, but we still have a very under-developed system when it comes to information. I do not agree with comparisons of crude examination results because it is amazing for a child from a disadvantaged area who is the first in a family to sit the leaving certificate examinations to get a C. Perhaps he or she has had fantastic teachers to help him or her to get up to that grade, which is a huge achievement for him or her. It would be wrong to compare that result crudely with results from another school where all of the children come from well-off backgrounds. It would not capture the fact that some students might not be academic but may excel in sports, the creative arts, or other such areas.
It would be crude and unfair to compare students on a purely academic basis, but there is still a huge gap in time between one whole school evaluation report and the next. I am not even sure if every school has been covered at this stage under that process which has been ongoing for some years. Some of the language used in the inspection reports verges on the conservative. It can be very subtle because the inspectors are trying to congratulate a school on the good things it is doing and sometimes it takes a trained eye to actually spot the criticism in what is being said about other areas - "There is room for improvement in maths" and so on. We have some way to go in that regard. Parents need more information and we need more transparency about schools. I do not agree with league tables, but I ask the Minister to take on this issue as a priority in her brief in terms of the information we can provide for parents that would be helpful and make them better informed in the choices they are making for their students, not just the crude academic results.

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