CHARLIE LENNON,
Sir, - Kevin Myers misses the point about school league tables (An Irishman's Diary, September 26th). It is not just teacher unions who oppose the publication of such tables, but the entire education community. This includes the National Parents' Council, the school management bodies and the Department of Education and Science.
These groups recognise the extremely damaging effects such tables would have on the education system. Because league tables take no account of pupil intake or the environment in which the school operates, schools with selection mechanisms (such as grinds schools) will appear to do better while schools with no selection policies will appear to be under-performing. Thus, their publication can only exacerbate rather than address the problem of educational disadvantage.
The demand for examination results league tables is fuelled in the main by a select number of newspapers. These publications are not looking to champion the cause of the educationally disadvantaged, as Mr Myers disingenuously suggests, but rather are looking to sell newspapers.
If Mr Myers really means what he says about the role of newspapers in highlighting the inequalities and lack of resources in the Irish education system, perhaps he might consider publishing the recent OECD tables on education which show Ireland at the bottom of the league when it comes to funding second-level students. In fact, within the EU the only country which spends less than Ireland is Greece. - Yours etc.,
CHARLIE LENNON, ASTI General Secretary, Winetavern Street, Dublin 8.