…But Working Party Recommendations Went Further
“Improvements to the MySchool website announced by the federal minister will be welcomed by school communities” said Independent Education Union of Australia Federal Secretary Chris Watt.
“In particular school communities will be pleased that integrity measures and terms of use will be implemented that will mitigate against the creation of misleading and simplistic league tables.”
“Data in relation to school finances and expanded capacity for commentary about the school’s setting and background will provide valuable information.”
“Very disappointing however has been the decision of the education ministers to reject the recommendation of the working party in relation to the ‘landing page’ or the first page that opens for each school and consequently the likely impact on the structural integrity of the website.”
“The IEUA believes that the narrative structure recommended by the working party would have provided parents with a richer and more sensibly navigated journey through the school’s data.”
“The decision by the education ministers to have ACARA design a different ‘landing page’ runs the very real risk of making the website less easy for parents and school communities to use.”
“Further, the IEUA does note with concern recent media reports about wild variations in some ICSEA scores as a consequence of new modeling, and notes that this will only serve to again undermine the credibility of the similar school cohorts.”
The IEUA was a member of the MySchool Working Party