The MySchool Website
Originally published in 2015, Term 4
There has been much debate over this website, which I have followed with interest. Overall, it is a good addition to the information available to the families of schoolchildren in Australia, and I applaud the government for launching it despite some furious opposition.
Looking at our school results and the positive feedback that came from them, I was pleased that it had been launched when it was, not a year earlier, as we had not done so well, especially in year five. The previous years exam was sat by a group of whom half had not started with our school, who pulled our results down. Now, in a school as small as ours, one or two children (of a group of 4-8 participants) who do not do well will have a much larger impact on the result than in a bigger school, but for me, it illustrated the pressure schools will now feel to not accept struggling students, students who not only take additional teacher and tutor time, but also pull down the whole school's grade.
The other concern is that it pushes toward a narrowing of the curriculum, as was seen by some regional offices of the Victorian Department of Education telling their schools to concentrate on preparing their children for the NAPLAN exam. If this leads to a cancelling of sport, art, or drama, then we risk falling into the trap of some of our regional neighbours (I am talking countries), who produce quite brilliant maths students but children with no other skills.
My final comment arises from the website's strength: It allows parents to know how their school is performing. My follow-up question to this is… well, what now?
I mean this from the perspective of families who are unable, for financial reasons, to either move to another better school (they cannot afford the school fees) or live in the zone of a high-performing school. To me, all this knowledge affords these families is a big frustration.
The logical (logical for me at least) extension of this knowledge is a tool that allows families to vote with their feet—that is, move to a school that better matches their expectations or needs. This, though, requires more than a website—it would require a funding mechanism that supports choice in education.
A final point, actually two. FCS will not make dark green on the MySchool website our number one goal—our order of priorities will remain: 1—happy children, 2—viable children, and 3—academically successful ones. We will continue to enrol children when vacancies arise at higher levels, with the knowledge that these children generally require more help and do not generally contribute to our MySchool rating.
I am not sure that all schools will take this approach. I am worried that this website will lead to schools not enrolling lower-performing students or even actually encouraging them to move on. I hope that this does not become the norm.
Yours,
Timothy Berryman (Principal)