Politicians congratulated

Parents, principals and teachers have congratulated the NSW Greens, the Coalition and other MLCs on league tables legislation.

The Public Education Alliance today welcomed the principled stand taken by the NSW Coalition and other MPs for supporting a Greens amendment in the Upper House of NSW Parliament last week.

Secondary Principals' Council president Jim McAlpine said:

'Coalition, Greens and other politicians' support for state legislation that imposes penalties on the publication of school performance rankings or comparisons provides important protection for students and their communities. This action maintains protection that has existed for a dozen years in this state. It's time other states and territories joined with the federal government to do the same.'

Parents and Citizens president Di Giblin said:

'By maintaining the twelve year ban on the publication of simplistic school comparisons, the Coalition, Greens, and other members of the Upper House have acted responsibly to protect school communities from the harm caused by misleading rankings based on aggregated test scores.'

Public Schools Principals Forum spokesperson Brian Chudleigh said:

'We are glad these politicians have stepped up to defend our students and their communities from such damaging school policy. We know league tables have caused major harm overseas. We know countries like Finland achieve world leading results yet do not do anything so simplistic and misleading as publish school league tables.'

Primary Principals' Association president Geoff Scott said:

'Parents, principals and teachers are at one on this issue. We already have a system that provides valuable information to parents and the community.'

Teachers Federation president Bob Lipscombe said:

'Media-generated criticism of the Coalition, Greens and other MPs will neither deflect nor dissuade members of the Public Education Alliance from welcoming the important stand taken. To argue that this blocks freedom of speech and information for parents belies the fact that this information is readily available from the Department and through annual school reports.'

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Last Modified: 30 Jun 2009