Education leaders call for delay

Education leaders want a backdown on plans that will allow primary and intermediate schools to be ranked in league tables.

However, Education Minister Anne Tolley is conceding only that "some league tables can be overly simplistic".

Yesterday, The Press revealed that reporting of the new national standards in literacy and numeracy would allow people to form league tables comparing schools doing well with those doing poorly.

Asked on Monday if she was worried about the development of league tables, Tolley said: "I don't honestly think that there is a way that you can protect against information. We have a society that values freedom of information. Personally, I think the more information that's out there the better."

Tolley said yesterday that having good information on academic performance at every level was important to raise the performance of the education system.

"I believe that some league tables can be overly simplistic. This is especially so in primary school, where we know that children start school with a wide variety of abilities," she said.

"The whole system is designed to lift the educational achievement of children, so we shouldn't be afraid to do things that will improve the education of children. There has to be a way around it."

A six-week consultation on the standards would address how achievement information could be used "responsibly".

Canterbury Primary Principals' Association president Denise Torrey said league tables created a "dangerous situation of winning and losing schools".

"This regime has high stakes for children. We don't want children to see themselves as `failures' because their school is deemed by these league tables to be a failing school," she said.

League tables would not paint a true picture of a school's performance, she said. "When people look at how schools are stacked in a table, they don't see what is happening in each school around raising the educational achievement levels of children."

Torrey, who sits on the reference group to discuss the draft national standards, said allowing league tables would go against expert international advice.

The primary teachers' union, the New Zealand Educational Institute, wants the introduction of the standards, due next year, delayed.

"It's better to extend the time frame for those people who need it and get it right than to force people into making quick decisions that may not be the best ones in the long term," institute president Frances Nelson said.

The chairwoman-elect of the Quality Public Education Coalition, Liz Gordon, said allowing league tables would be a mistake.

"Only some things can be measured, and these are not always what is valuable about education," she said.

Tolley has taken issue with the headline "Govt to fast-track school league tables", in The Press yesterday. She says there is no intent by the Government to "fast-track" national standards. As reported, league tables could be created by people using the new data provided in the literacy and numeracy standards to be set up next year.

- © Fairfax NZ News