Heresy

Rachel Grunwell in the HoS reports:

A leading Auckland school is installing state-of-the-art software that will allow it to pinpoint its best-performing teachers – and show up those responsible for poorly performing pupils.

Macleans College, a decile-10 state school in Howick which often scoops top scholarships and has a reputation for high-achieving students, hopes to install a programme called EdReflect.

It will record and analyse student results, allowing the school to learn which teachers have taught students that got the best – and worst – results.

My first reaction to reading this, was that I am sure the teacher unions will hate it, and possibly call on the Government to ban it.

Post Primary Teachers’ Association president Robin Duff said the technology could be a good thing if it was used to improve teaching. But the teacher union head was “fairly alarmed” about the concept and feared it could be used “punitively” among “an armoury of sacking devices”.

God forbid a teacher be sacked merely because their students don’t actualy learn.