It is a brutalist philosophy to use league tables as a measure of excellence in education, writes John White.
It is said that the collapse of the Soviet Union was inevitable because of the invention of the fax machine. In other words, information is the lifeblood of a democratic society and, in that context, there will be a demand for the fullest information about schools. However, it is essential for the well-being of education in our country that highly inappropriate inferences are not drawn from league tables which show the number of pupils who enter universities from schools.
I believe it is the responsibility of newspapers such as The Irish Times which publish such tables to make it clear what can and cannot be validly concluded from them.
Firstly (and fundamentally), it is improper and damaging to the education service to conclude that because a high number of pupils from a grind school goes to a particular university, this means that pupils of the same academic ability and from the same socio-economic background increase their chances of attending university if they attend such a grind school.
There is not a scintilla of evidence to support such a claim but this is the distinct impression created by stories on front pages which announce that such and such a grind school tops the table. For anyone to draw the conclusion that grind schools offer a superior service is unwarranted and damaging to the education service.
However, this is the conclusion that parents are invited to draw by spurious references to "top schools". The evidence is that highly motivated pupils from affluent socio-economic backgrounds have a distinct advantage regardless of the school they attend. For example, the OECD states that the number of books in a household is the best indicator of academic attainment.
Secondly, it surely is axiomatic that any valid comparison must compare like with like. Such tables do not state whether a pupil is a repeat pupil, as many will be in grind schools, nor do they state whether a pupil has done the transition year which, research shows, increases by 46 the average number of CAO points achieved.
Even more significantly, it is the policy of this State that pupils with special needs or disabilities should be integrated into mainstream education. League tables of university entrants which praise those coming at the top of such tables are clearly stating that pupils with special needs are less important and schools which cater for them are not somehow "as good". Is this the kind of society we want to create?
Thirdly, league tables giving raw lists of numbers attending university do not take account of the numbers sitting the Leaving Certificate in any particular institution. Thus, a school with 150 pupils sitting the Leaving Certificate is likely to have more entrants than a school with 30 pupils doing the examination.
Furthermore, every study of third-level entrance clearly tells us that location is a factor for students when it comes to deciding which third-level institution they would like to attend. If the university is situated in south Co Dublin, as UCD is, what significance can be attached to the fact that large schools on the city's southside send many pupils to UCD?
What I am trying to illustrate is that information is not innocent: it must be "unpacked" and, therefore, the publication of such tables, paradoxically, without such unpacking, misleads and distorts. That is why teachers, parents' organisations and the Minister for Education and Science oppose such ersatz school league tables.
In recent weeks the OECD published a report of major international significance on the performance of second-level students in 40 countries. The report, Learning for Tomorrow's World, stated that Irish parents can rely on "high and consistent standards across all types of second-level schools".
All parents want the very best for their children. Of course they want information, but when this information is published in a way which is damaging to the education service in general, surely the purveyors of such information also have responsibilities.
Such tables should come with an education health warning: "league tables damage the education of our pupils".
* John White is acting general secretary of the ASTI.