Representatives of the Public Education Alliance members (Federation, Primary Principals' Association, Secondary Principals' Council, Public Schools Principals Forum and Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations of NSW) and the Independent Education Union met with NSW Upper House cross bench MLCs on June 23 to lobby them about league tables.

NSW Upper House amendment to hinder league tables

By

Bob Lipscombe

Federation lobbying convinced the Coalition and cross benches that publishing league tables was not a good idea.

Congratulations to the Greens, the Coalition and the other members of the NSW Legislative Council who voted for the amendment to impose penalties in NSW for the publication of league tables. And thank you to Greens education spokesperson John Kaye and opposition shadow education minister Adrian Piccoli for their role. Acting in the interests of students, schools and their communities, the amendment maintains NSW as the only state parliament to take a stand against the public misuse of school test data.

Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard declared on April 17 that Education ministers had always said there was no point in reporting on raw scores, or having simplistic league tables. These words have, of course, been echoed at a state level. On May 6, for example, Minister for Education and Training Verity Firth's spokesman was quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald: "NSW does not support simplistic league tables. If legislative change is required it will facilitate giving parents and the community access to information presented in a rich and meaningful way, not crude single indicator comparisons." The timing was exquisite, for on the same day the Hobart Mercury published a league table of Tasmanian schools. The Mercury took each school's National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) average scores in literacy and numeracy, combined the scores and then divided it by two to produce a ranking of schools across the state. In the end it produced a list which differed little from a ranking based on relative socio-economic status. It certainly was not a "single indicator" comparison but one wonders to what extent it gave "parents and the community access to information presented in a rich and meaningful way".

The amendment in the Upper House and its subsequent adoption by the Lower House has only served to further expose the hypocrisy of the State Labor Government. Having maintained a State regulation for the past 12 years which banned the public release of student results "in a way that ranks or otherwise compares the results of particular schools", we are now treated to claims by the Minister and some of her parliamentary colleagues and a few others that the amendment to impose fines for the publication of league tables in NSW newspapers is now censorship and an attack on civil liberties. This chorus has been joined by various media outlets. Not surprisingly, none of the media outlets have mentioned their commercial interest and the significantly increased sales they make whenever lists of schools are published. Nor have many dwelled on the fact that the publication of league tables has been opposed across both the public and private education sectors not only by the education unions, but also by the major principal and parent organisations.

Amidst the hypocrisy of some politicians and the media, two claims stand out. Firstly was the extraordinary claim that only newspapers and terrorists are subject to such "censorship" in Australia. Second was the extraordinary claim by the NSW Government that the publication of the data would enable it to direct resources to schools which would be identified as needing additional assistance. Apparently the fact that the NSW internally has had access to such data for over a decade has not been of any help.

Lost in all of this is the potential harm. Despite the outrageous claims to the contrary, the media is already prevented from publishing material which, on balance, could cause long-lasting harm to our young people. They are not, for example, allowed to publish information which would enable the identification of minors charged with crimes, nor are they able to publish information relating to family law matters. While the media might argue that they are not identifying individuals, the potential for harm to individuals who attend schools which are named, blamed and shamed in league tables is considerable.

One of the more interesting aspects of the discussion which has followed the passage of the amendment has been the almost total absence of any attempt to defend the publication of league tables for their intrinsic worth. Apart from former Federal opposition leader Brendan Nelson and conservative education commentator Kevin Donnelly, supporters have been notable by their absence.

Meanwhile those expressing concern has grown in number. The now well-known views of prominent NSW educators such as former head of the NSW Board of Studies Professor Gordon Stanley and former NSW Director-General of Education and Training Dr Ken Boston, has recently been added to by former dean of education at the University of Melbourne Professor Brian Caldwell. His views were reported in the Melbourne Age on May 28 under the heading: "League tables slammed as a disaster." It is reported he said: "While they deny the intent, without question the Rudd Government is leading the charge, with premiers and chief ministers in all states and territories following, to create league tables."

While there is no guarantee that the NSW legislation will prevent the publication of league tables, it remains an important step. It is now time for the other state governments and the Federal Government to take legislative action to protect our students, schools and communities.

Bob Lipscombe is the President.

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