INTO rejects plan for school performance reports

A plan by the Government to publish school performance reports has run into difficulty after delegates at the INTO conference in Killarney overwhelmingly voted against co-operation with the scheme.

Minister for Education Mary Hanafin said she was disappoined with the decision, arguing that the publication of the reports was "a positive development for parents and for schools."

She said that non co-operation with the scheme would be a breach of the partnership agreement, Sustaining Progress.

The Department of Education was hoping to introduce comprehensive Whole School Evaluation (WSE) reports this year at primary and second level.

Under the plan, inspectors would meet with the board of management, parents' representatives and the staff of the school before they visit classrooms.

In primary schools, inspectors would then evaluate teaching and learning throughout the school, while in post-primary schools, teaching and learning in a range of subjects would form the basis for the WSE.

While the reports would not identify individual teachers, delegates at the INTO conference argued that teachers could easily be identified in the reports, especially in schools where an individual teacher taught a particular subject.

One delegate said she could be identified by her gender and her age, as she worked in a two-teacher school.

According to the Department of Education, the reports are designed to "to monitor and assess the  quality, economy, efficiency and effectiveness of the education system provided in the state by recognised schools and centres for education"

The issue will next be discussed by the INTO's executive when it meets in the second week of May.