University statistics, as published yesterday by The Irish Times, are not bad for teachers. They are good for parental and student choice, argues John O'Keeffe
It may not be immediately obvious to some, but yesterday marked a new beginning for educational choice in this country. For the first time, under the Freedom of Information Act, parents in the Republic were able to view in The Irish Times the schools that are sending the largest numbers to the two premier third- level institutions.
Before examining what such a table achieves it is apposite to consider some of the statistics the listings have thrown up. Unsurprisingly, the Institute of Education comes out tops in terms of numbers attending both Trinity and UCD, and by a mile. The institute, like many similar organisations around the country, makes no bones about the fact that it employs the best teachers and guarantees the best results. Academically at least, this appears now difficult to disprove. The traditional private schools have come out also as being some of the largest providers to these third-level institutions.
Many of the non-fee-paying schools are to be congratulated at the outstanding position they achieved in the listings notwithstanding comparatively poor funding and drawing their pupils from lower income areas.
These listings are not without their failings, however. It can easily be argued that the calibrations are unsound. There is no factoring in of class sizes, for instance. A small community school in Roscommon sending, for example, five pupils to Trinity and UCD may represent 50 per cent of the class, while a figure in the high 40s for a large private Dublin school may only represent a third of the class.
Also, the listings represent only two universities on the island and do not take account of students in all the other universities, institutes and third-level colleges.
The question is therefore, is it time to pack our bags, head for Lanzarote and say goodbye to the liberal education that many of us had so impressively thumped into us as children? Are these listings the thin end of the wedge that will lead to automaton children with no focus in life other than the crude ambition of accumulating points? The simple answer is no.
Such listings are an important beginning for parents who believe in choices in education. The unfortunate reality is that to be in favour of league tables is to mark one out as Satan's helper.
Apparently those of us who would like to know how schools perform academically have no interest in our children's broader development. We don't care what the school's ethos is; whether, for instance, it offers sport, theatre, social awareness or anti-racism programmes.
For the vast majority of parents this is, of course, a nonsense. The point remains, however, that while most of us would recoil at such a narrow parental attitudes, if this is all parents want for their child, why should they not be allowed have it? Does teacher really know best?
LEAGUE tables, we are told, are bad for schools and bad for teacher morale. Academic league tables, as part of a more complex and detailed system, are not bad for schools. It is in the interests of schools to aspire continually to achieve the highest educational standards. Competition invariably improves the product offered.
It is true that State schools are not funded properly and so may well have an argument that they cannot compete in the brave new world of league tables. If they do not have the resources to compete with private schools, then the Government must act to ensure they do. This is not a parental problem, however, it is a governmental one, and parental choice must not be obfuscated because of this.
The morale of teachers is apparently affected greatly by such league tables. What seems to demoralise them most is the fact that they might actually be judged on achieving good results for their pupils.
The rest of the population, whose lives still orbit around the seemingly extinct planets of achievement and reward, are now beginning to tire of this. I did not detect any flagging morale from the teachers on TV and radio yesterday whose schools performed well in the listing - quite the opposite. It may now be time for some teachers to wake up and smell the points.
League tables do not mean the creation of a two-tier educational system or a system without compassion where the rich triumph at the expense of the poor. A public system which is well funded, co-existing alongside a fee-paying private system, both with yearly league tables across the spectrum of achievement, will offer parents the one thing they are currently missing - informed choice.
It is true that pupil performance does not boil down to individual ability but rather the social and economic factors that surround that school. If governments in the past had begun curing these social evils, then perhaps we might not now hear arguments against league tables for our secondary schools.
Give the students the right social environment, and they will all perform. Yesterday's listings were a new dawn for both parents and students. It is now up to us to ensure that such information is not stifled, but, alongside all other factors that form a child's education, is brought into the public domain.
John O'Keeffe is head of the law school at Portobello College, Dublin. He may be contacted at jok@iol.ie