Information on schools should be sensitive to a range of factors, the Minister for Education, Mr Dempsey, told the ASTI convention in Killarney yesterday. He said scores could perhaps be adjusted to reflect the socio-economic background of a school's pupils.
In the clearest statement yet of his thinking on school league tables, Mr Dempsey said any information system could also explore the effect of the school on a student through measurement of pupil's progress.
School performance might be assessed on the basis of the total operation of the school, not just student achievement in examinations, he said.
Launching a strong defence of his policy on school league tables, Mr Dempsey said he believed schools did much more than provide academic knowledge.
However, a "vacuum" had arisen because of the absence of comprehensive, fair and well-rounded information.
"I do not consider examination results to be an acceptable measure of school performance," he said. "But parents need and are entitled to know how well a school is performing in preparing their children for life."
Mr Dempsey also acknowledged that the question of school discipline was important for teachers.
"It is vitally important that we address the specific needs of pupils who are currently alienated from the system," he said.
However, he said the issue of indiscipline was a complex one, and was not simply a question of resources.
He would be consulting with unions and management on the development of a strategy to address the issue.
Responding, ASTI president-elect Ms Susie Hall said the manner in which Mr Dempsey intended to proceed with the publication of school leagues tables needed clarification.
She said she wanted to know if he intended to publish the number of schools whose dilapidated buildings do not provide minimum standards of health and safety, or if such tables would include information on how many students the school had prevented from dropping out.
"I have no doubt that you will tell us that what you have in mind . . . is not the sort of crude league tables which are published in the print media," she said.
Ms Hall also called on Mr Dempsey to publish a timescale within which he intended to address the issues raised during the Your Education System (YES) consultation process.
Responding, Mr Dempsey said he believed information on schools could also include their conditions, retention figures and transfer rates to further education.