Federation welcomes 'league tables' ban

The NSW Teachers Federation welcomes the ban on student performance league tables and commends The Greens, Coalition, other parties and independents who took action in state parliament to protect students, schools and their communities.

Teachers Federation president, Bob Lipscombe said:

'The State government is guilty of hypocrisy in its position on school performance league tables. It has maintained a ban on the publication of league tables since 1997 and, until recent weeks, the Minister has maintained that she was opposed to their publication.

'For the Minister to claim in today's Sydney Morning Herald that, '...the data would allow it (ie the government) to allocate funding to assist problem schools' begs the question of what they have been using the same data available to the Minister for the last 12 years for.

'The ban on the publication of league tables is supported by the major parent and principal organisations as well education unions. They have written to both the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard and the State Minister, Verity Firth, urging both to take legislative action to prohibit the creation and publication of league tables.

'The damage to the curriculum, students, and school communities as a result of league tables is well-documented in overseas research and evidence. It is time other state governments, and the federal government, also banned the publication of league tables.'

Send an email to the Politicians supporting the league table bans

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Last Modified: 29 Jun 2009