Editorial: Let parents decide which school is best

Does Prime Minister John Key not like his Education Minister? Or is he playing smart politics? Hekia Parata had barely dusted herself off from her spat with the education sector when this week she was thrown into another debate with primary principals - this time over school league tables.

Rather than poor timing, it shows Key's political astuteness. He knows the Government lost the battle on class sizes but he also knows he needs to win back parent confidence.

Schools have been resisting league tables since the introduction of the controversial National Standards system in 2010.

Despite this, parents I know want a standardised basis for comparing schools and also for understanding how their children are progressing against their peers.

So when the Prime Minister last week signalled his support for a form of league tables for primary and intermediate schools, it met opposition from teacher's union but not from parents.

Here in the Bay, local principals surveyed this week by senior reporter Carly Gibbs were opposed to league tables. Their main misgiving is that children do not start from a level playing field, with other factors, such as socioeconomics, needing to be accounted for.

This is true. However, it could be resolved by producing league tables that take the decile rating of the school into account and thus the school's catchment area. This would also show if the decile system is working. A school's decile score decides how much government funding it gets. The lower the score, the more funding.

Yet the funding does not always level the playing field as NCEA league tables have shown. Socioeconomics, and a host of other social and family factors, play a part in children's performance that cannot simply be resolved with government funding. However much the government funds your school, if you come to school every day cold, dirty and hungry, you are not going to make the same standards as your peer in the next suburb who has a home full of books and computers, a full night's sleep, hot porridge and thermals.

Nor do league tables accurately reflect teacher quality because they don't account for the socioeconomic circumstances, learning difficulties or disabilities of children. Another criticism of league tables compiled from National Standards is that they only measure performance in reading, writing and mathematics and do not reflect other areas such as arts, science, music and sports. Teachers argue this is a narrow view of education.

So league tables based on National Standards' information, even with decile ratings factored in, are never going to be perfect or all encompassing.

In my view, parents can understand this and take this into account. Parents have the right to know not only how their child measures up in the basics, but how their school does too.

Currently there is little quantitative data available to enable parents to weigh up how schools meet their expectations and aspirations for their children. National Standards and league tables are just one tool that parents can use.

The information is out there and it should be made public.