Parents need to be able to compare schools, and that includes being able to compare the results they have achieved, writes Fionnuala Kilfeather
The quality of education affects the lives and the life chances of each and every person. At any one time, almost two-thirds of the population are directly affected by the educational service provided by the State, either as students or as parents. This is the reason why our teachers and our schools occupy such a central place in the public endeavour.
This is the reason parents and the public need to know everything there is to know about the education service for children. We have a need to know, and we have a democratic right to know, because unless we know, unless we are well-informed, we cannot fulfil our own roles as citizens and parents.
Resistance to giving parents and others access to information about the work of the school sends some very strange messages. Such resistance implies, and tends to create a most unhealthy culture of secrecy surrounding an area which is so central to the wellbeing of all.
The National Parents' Council (Primary) has long campaigned for a system of quality assurance for schools and for information about the schools our children are attending.
The NPC welcomes the acknowledgement of the Minister for Education and Science, Mary Hanafin, that the provision of adequate information on schools is one of the key challenges facing us in the Irish education system. The Minister has proposed that Whole School Evaluation reports will provide this information.
However, it is necessary to consider the role and purpose of Whole School Evaluation. Through WSE, the inspectors from the Department of Education and Science carry out an evaluation of the quality of education being provided by a particular school. The work of the whole school, as a unit, is looked at, as well as the work of individual teachers. The team of inspectors evaluates the quality of teaching and learning, school planning and school management.
The aim of the WSE process, which will normally involve a team of inspectors visiting a school, is to identify with school communities the strengths and weaknesses of the school. This information is used to assist the principal, the teachers and the board to develop and improve the quality of the education they provide.
If, as the Minister believes, WSE will give parents useful information, parents must have confidence that what they are receiving is a rigorous and honest appraisal of the work of schools.
It would be ludicrous if parents had information about everything about the school except the educational outcomes for children.
Will WSE reports deliver timely and adequate information? There are several key considerations here.
Current estimates indicate that it will take between six and eight years for the inspectorate, at current staffing levels, to evaluate all schools.
Through WSE reports, the "kinder, gentler" form of information (Editorial, The Irish Times, August 29th) will be available, but what about the kind of information that parents need and are increasingly expecting?
Clearly, parents need a package of information which will include details of how a school will cater for children of a wide range of abilities, aptitudes and interests, including: information about the school's programmes and achievements in the Applied Leaving Certificate, the Vocational Leaving Certificate and the traditional Leaving Certificate; what provision is being made for children with special needs; and what programmes and measures of achievement are being used.
Parents and students will want to know about the school ethos and climate; about parent and student involvement in drawing up, monitoring and supporting the code of behaviour; about real democracy in a school through the role and responsibility of the parent association and the student council. Information will also be needed on extracurricular and cultural activities and on links with the community.
Parents need to be able to compare schools so that they can make the best possible choice for their child. If a school's results are consistently behind results in other schools, even if there is only one school serving a community, surely a community should have the right to know this, so that people can press for change, improvement and the necessary resources.
The Department of Education and Science recently published information about the deplorably poor literacy levels for children in disadvantaged areas in spite of massive investment over many years. The same study also pointed to some schools serving within disadvantaged areas achieving better outcomes for the same cohort of children. Why didn't we know about this sooner?
It is reasonable to require that parents have access to the sort of information that will allow them to compare schools. The main argument - apart from that of targeting individual teachers - that has been made against league tables is how they might reflect on schools in areas of disadvantage. This objection is based on an acceptance that some schools will have to be excused for having continuing poor results simply because of the children who attend them.
This low level of expectation for children must be challenged and the focus must be on what schools can do to stop this. Schools must be able to compare the results they have achieved for children and share good practices. Quite clearly, good schools make more of a difference.
It is regrettable that concerns about league tables - no matter how valid some of these may be - are being allowed to frustrate the essential requirement that parents, the public, the education community and the Government have for comparative information about the work of schools and for research which can identify what is working well.
The National Parents' Council (Primary) has called on successive ministers to publish a policy paper which looks at best international practice on compiling and releasing information on the work of schools.
We need to leave behind us the sterile debate about league tables and move to open discussion on how we are going to make sure that the multi-billion-euro education system is accountable for the service it is providing for the public and for children.
Fionnuala Kilfeather is the chief executive of the National Parents' Council (Primary). She is a member of the National Educational Welfare Board and of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment