Parents hail school report ruling

PARENTS have welcomed a court decision allowing public access to school inspectors’ reports despite fears among teachers of unfair comparisons being drawn from them.

The High Court ruled this week that the Information Commissioner was right to allow the release of reports on five Dublin schools to The Irish Times.

The newspaper’s request for the information was turned down by the Department of Education, but that was reversed by then-Information Commissioner Kevin Murphy last year.

The principal of one of the five schools appealed against the commissioner’s ruling but the High Court rejected it this week.

The National Parents Council (Primary) said the reports give a broad and balanced picture of all aspects of school life.

“Most parents have to rely on hearsay, gossip or rumour for information about the performance of schools. They are entitled to meaningful information when choosing a school for their child or to be reassured that their school is continuing to do a good job,” said the council’s chief executive, Fionnuala Kilfeather.

She said parents need such information as to how a school caters for children with a wide range of abilities, provisions for pupils with special needs, drop-out rates and extracurricular activities. The issue was not about compiling crude league tables, she said.

In his ruling, Mr Justice John Gilligan said he did not believe any empirical league table of schools could be compiled based on reports of different schools.

Barney Sheedy, principal of Scoil Choilm in Crumlin, who brought the appeal, was unavailable for comment yesterday.

The Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO) said there is a danger that publishing reports could allow comparisons of schools in an incomplete or biased manner. INTO general secretary John Carr warned that the information might identify particular children.

Mr Carr said: “There is a danger that publication has the potential to allow competition to creep in, in a biased manner.”

He added: “The experience in England in publishing school reports is that it has had a damaging effect.”

Meanwhile, the Teachers Union of Ireland (TUI) criticised the publication of lists of second-level schools whose students go on to third-level colleges, most recently in The Irish Times and the Farmers Journal.

“They deflect attention from the main issue in education, which is ensuring every student receives the high-quality and well-rounded education they deserve,” said TUI president Derek Dunne.