Underperforming schools to get help, says Dempsey

SCHOOLS found to be underperforming will be given more assistance to help students, Education Minister Noel Dempsey said last night.

He told the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) annual convention that he agreed exam results are not an acceptable measure of school performance.

“But parents need and are entitled to know how well a school is performing in preparing their children for life,” he told delegates in Killarney.

He suggested the variety of information that should be made available should include factors such as the students’ socio-economic background, their gender, ethnicity and learning needs.

The minister said the data will inform his officials which schools should be performing better, in terms of exams. Extra resources may then be allocated.

“We need to know what schools we need to help so every student gets a chance,” Mr Dempsey said.

Earlier, ASTI vice-president Susie Hall warned the minister against allowing the publication of school league tables.

“In Britain, they have caused havoc and bureaucratic interference has ruined an education system that was once the envy of the world,” she said.

She asked the minister if he would consider publishing the number of schools whose dilapidated buildings do not provide the minimum standard of health and safety for teachers.

Ms Hall said no collation of school data would ever show how many students did not drop out of school, become pregnant or commit suicide because of the intervention and advice of a teacher in a crisis period.

“When we look at the really valuable things in schools, thanks to the incredible amount of work done by teachers, there are no statistics,” she said.