Penalties for publishing league tables

Following intensive lobbying of the NSW opposition and cross benchers by parent and teacher organisations, the Legislative Council (Upper House) has voted for a vitally important amendment to the government's bill abolishing the regulation preventing the publication of school league tables.

Moved by The Greens, and supported by the Liberal-National opposition, and other cross-benchers, the amendment will make it difficult for newspapers (or others) to publish league tables in NSW and impose penalties on any individual or organisation which does so.

The ALP which had claimed it was opposed to the publication of simplistic league tables, and who introduced the regulation in 1997, was alone in opposing the amendment.

The amendment imposes fines on anyone (individual or corporate) who in NSW:

1. publishes any ranking or other comparison of particular schools according to school results, except with the permission of the principals of the schools involved;

2. identifies a school as being in a percentile of less than 90 per cent in relation to school results, except with the permission of the principal of the school.

It does, however, allow the continuation of current practice each year of ranking schools in the top 10 per cent in relation to HSC results.

The Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations was instrumental in the lobbying effort, alongside teachers, including school principals.

The NSW government decided to overturn the regulation in order to hand over national test (NAPLAN) data to the federal government, which they are demanding in order to publish on their website.

Once this happens, a media outlet could capture the data and publish school rankings using that simplistic data. It will now be illegal, and subject to fines for that to happen in NSW.

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Last Modified: 29 Jun 2009