Reducing complex social issues to statistics
I have a number of concerns about the publishing of school league tables. I firmly believe that no set of statistics can take into account all of the complex social issues surrounding education and student achievement, and therefore the numbers will be misleading in some circumstances.
There has been a lot said in this and other forums about the published results enabling the "dead wood" amongst teachers to be removed from schools. As a teacher I would be delighted if this were the case. There is indeed a small percentage of teachers who under-perform and that is as frustrating for the hard working teachers as it is for the parents and students. The fact is that these results will not allow the removal of these teachers. In fact the under-performing schools will likely wind up with more of these teachers as those with drive and dedication will move on to greener pastures. Such schools need encouragement and incentives to improve, not ridicule and shaming. The most dynamic and dedicated teachers I have ever worked with reside in these disadvantaged schools and strive to make a difference with their students. Why would they continue to do that when they are subjected to humiliation, and have the opportunity to move to more advantaged settings as the drastic teacher shortage looms.
More often than not in my teacher consultant role I see that poorly performing schools result from poor leadership, regardless of the social advantage or disadvantage of the local community. There is no index to take this into consideration. Under-supported teachers will be held accountable by the community for poor results of their students with no regard for the efforts they have made. This is a dangerous situation in a profession that currently struggles to retain beginning teachers beyond the first three years, remembering that staffing our schools fully with Australian teachers will be impossible once the baby boomers all retire. Good luck attracting school leavers into teaching!!
Ultimately though my objections to the publishing of league tables is not about the harm it will do to the teaching profession, but rather the impact it will have on our students, our children! We need to protect them from potentially harmful labels based on numbers and statistics. We are messing with their future careers, their sense of worth.
I am writing this as both a teacher and a parent of a 5 year old and a 3 year old. My 5 year old starts kindergarten next week and I would never have based my decisions of where to send her on the type of statistics that will be published. It is such a small part of the schooling equation. I care about my daughter being treated with respect and her needs being catered for. I don't want her to be taught to the test so that her school will look good on the league tables. I want her to have a well rounded education including the sort of learning that can't be measured in a NAPLAN exam. I see nothing to be gained from this exercise, nothing at all.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rudy Vezina on -
Lindy,
I'm trying to get into your logic but I'll need some help. If you will never allow stats to influence your decision between one school or another, which other criteria will you use?
I can easily agree with the fact that "The most dynamic and dedicated teachers I have ever worked with reside in these disadvantaged schools and strive to make a difference with their students" but are ALL teachers in the disadvantaged schools dynamic and dedicated?
Would you be happy to know that your 5 year old is in such a school, but, unfortunately, got the "other" teacher than the dynamic and dedicated one?
Would pride that you didn't select the school based on its performance compensate for the weak education your daughter might get in school?
I'd personally like to know what to expect from a school before choosing it, rather than realizing at the end of the year that I made the wrong choice. At least the responsibility would be mine and not the real estate agent's, after all he's the one that found the apartment I'm renting in the local school's catchment's area. Let's not promote mediocrity and ignorance anymore.
And ultimately, how do you assess "the sort of learning that can't be measured in a NAPLAN exam"? (forgive me, but I'm an engineer and I need hard facts)
Rudy
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Permalink Reply by marvin on -
We (our family) arrived here from overseas a little over a year ago. We come from a country where this kind of information is available and considered very useful by the parents and schools alike. Once here, we visited probably about 10 schools, talked to principals, parents, kids and also looked for school results information in national testing, in order to decide where our son will go. We even called the Ministry of Education - the reply came promptly: " All the NSW schools are very good!"
Yeah right! Ignorance is bliss, isn't it?
The resistance to change is very hard to deal with, but teachers and parents should agree on the fact that the more we know the better. Better for the school that knows where their work needs to improve, better for the parents who will not blindly put their child's future in the hands of a school that does not take it's role seriously.
I think teachers should be responsible for their work as all of us are in our workplaces. They are spending more hours with our children than we are. I want to be sure they are doing with & for them what I would do myself - look after their best interest and their future.
Yes the numbers can be somewhat misleading, and social context and poor leadership are issues that schools are dealing with presently and will continue to do so, but life in general is quantified in every way by statistics. Prices, taxes on income, number of children per family, everything is put in numbers (even salaries for teachers). We are numbers ourselves and our children will not be spared.
Yes the school should cater for their needs, but also prepare them for real life.
I agree with encouragement for under-performing schools, but incentives, really? I hope you are referring to the kids!
I think we should have high expectations from our school system. Low expectations equal poor results, but also little disappointments (and some seem to prefer the latter).
Competition is healthy even for schools, children can only gain from it.
Cheers
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Permalink Reply by carla brown on -
Lindy, well argued. I am sure there are many who agree with you.
Sadly, for reasons I cannot fathom, there are people who just don't get understand how this system can ghettoise our education institutions by causing the drifts you identify . This has been the case overseas and whilst it can be turned around, it often takes the miracle of funding from business communities to do so and exceptional passionate educational leaders to materialise.
The egalitarianism supposedly a part of our identity is no longer as crucial to our society as it once was and all the hard work of making education available to all 100 odd years ago seems, like so many changes fought for, to be forgotten.
Inequity of funding seems to be here to stay. Yes, we need data to improve our education provisions but not in this way.
Children are not a product that can be quality controlled, packaged and branded the same.Teachers will never be able to make them so and that is the problem with reducing complex social issues to stastistics. It's called humanity and that is why economic rationalisation and business models have no place in education systems.
all the best teaching in 2010
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