MEDIA RELEASE

School ‘Bashing’ Predictable

MySchool Used for Simplistic Targeting

“Almost predictably a number in the media have taken simplistic snapshots from the MySchool website to continue their political campaign against some schools, said Independent Education Union of Australia Federal Secretary Chris Watt.

“Unfortunately we saw comments from the Chair of ACARA, the national curriculum, assessment and reporting authority, earlier in the week about ‘wealthy’ schools ‘coasting’ that has set the tone for some of today’s commentary.

“The personalized, one on one school comparison that is the feature of online media reporting today highlights the very real concerns that the union has had about the use of the MySchool data.

“Despite protestations by the Education Ministers that the website is intended to be used to share best practice and support schools needing assistance, it was inevitable that there would be an opportunistic approach by some in the media where ‘each school is pitted against 60 others nationwide’ as one media outlet has described it on their website.

“It doesn’t matter whether the target of the simplistic reporting are advantaged schools or disadvantaged schools, high fee schools or low schools. This is not helpful for schools or their communities.

Contact:

Chris Watt       Federal Secretary IEUA