As expected, the Minister for Education, Mr Martin, has decided to launch a High Court appeal against the decision by the Information Commissioner which opened the way for the publication of the 1998 Leaving Certificate results. The Minister takes the view that the publication of raw exam tables would damage the education system, lead to "cherry picking" of schools by parents and develop a "grind-school mentality". It would, he said, narrow the focus of the education system.
There is no small irony in this; as Mr Richard Bruton, the Fine Gael spokesman on education, points out, the Department of Education - which has always insisted on exams as the sole yardstick of educational success - is now denying the public access to information about these exams. Taking a High Court case against someone like the Information Commissioner, Mr Kevin Murphy, who was appointed to make public bodies more open and accountable to citizens, hardy seems like a progressive approach.
For all that, the concerns expressed by so many about the use of league tables to compare school performance are substantial. There is a considerable risk involved in the release of crude examination data, which take no account of a school's wider catchment areas or its selection procedures; there is the risk of stigmatising some schools and of overstating the desirability of others. But the Minister is open to the charge that he is being naive in the extreme. Like it or not, an unofficial system of school league tables already exists as parents endeavour to find out how this school or that is performing. There is hardly a parent of an 11 or 12 year old in this State who has not in the past month or so checked out - by means of gossip, anecdote or hearsay - the exam results in prospective secondary schools for their children. Might it not be better if they could make a more informed decision?
Mr Martin protests that his decision is not "a question of secrecy" and he has reiterated his commitment to a fully accountable system. But the reality is that he presides over one of the least accountable systems in the EU. There is very little sense that parents - whose pivotal role in relation to their children's education is specifically recognised in the Constitution - have a real input. And, despite the fact that this State has a talented pool of teachers, there is little pressure on the less-motivated ones to improve their performance.
The Minister, in fairness, has endeavoured to inject some accountability through a limited and much emasculated school evaluation system but this has met formidable resistance from the teachers' unions. Against this depressing background, yesterday's decision appears to be a backward step. There is a sense in which the Minister, with the support of the education establishment, is turning his face against the principles of openness, transparency and accountability which are now a routine part of some other aspects of public administration. School league tables are, indeed, a crude and imperfect measure. But half a loaf is better than no bread.