19 June 2012
For Immediate Release

National league tables damaging and unfair for our children

NZEI Te Riu Roa says National League tables will have a severely damaging effect on our children’s education and will unfairly label schools and students as failing.

NZEI National President, Ian Leckie says we have one of the highest levels of literacy and numeracy achievement in the OECD.

“National league tables are a very narrow, simplistic and unreliable tool to assess education achievement and school success. This is especially so in New Zealand where they would no doubt be based on dodgy, unfair and unmoderated National Standards information.”

“We need to question why we would undermine a system that we know works in order to adopt experimental systems that have failed overseas.”

He says international evidence on the effect of league tables on quality education is damning.

"They are shown to have had a negative impact on education for children."

“League tables are difficult to assess fairly, they lead to a narrowing of the curriculum and a consequent loss of creativity and individual learning.”

"Instead of treating children as individuals with individual learning needs, National League tables adopts a one-size-fits-all approach and encourages teachers to teach-to-the-test instead of what’s best for the individual child."

"This is a retrograde step for students, parents and communities. National League tables will do nothing to improve quality education and be especially harmful for those who are struggling.”

ENDS

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