It’s all about league tables

The union campaign against national standards is actually a campaign against league tables. The union has made it very clear that they would be willing to work with the Government on implementing national standards, if league tables were made illegal.

Cracker666 blogs an e-mail from a teacher and former NZEI rep:

“…we teachers have been told the entire campaign by the principals and the NZEI would be dropped in a second if the Government agreed to take school assessment data and make it top secret – i.e. not public, not even if someone made an Official Information Act request.  Think about it – they’re putting school assessment data in the same category as the Official Secrets Act just so a) schools can’t be subjected to league tables and b) the dumbarse in the classroom next to mine can keep his job without fear of being found out as a hopeless teacher.  I asked the last union meeting what impact this ongoing campaign would have on the kids who are failing.  I got a cold look from the union sheila and they moved on to the next question…”

So the concern of the teacher unions is not about national standards. It is purely about keeping assessment data from public view – it is about anti-accountability and anti-transparency.

Hat Tip: Homepaddock