An expert on school league tables says introducing the system here would lead to schools narrowing their teaching focus, competing for the "best" students and rejecting those who fall behind in order to reach national targets.
Professor Martin Thrupp, of Waikato University, spent six years in Britain researching education markets and accountability in schools.
"People love to see the numbers - which schools are doing better - but within schools, there's a lot of anxiety."
Prime Minister John Key said this week that he would not rule out the Ministry of Education creating tables based on data from the National Standards policy.
But he added: "What I don't want to see is schools actually damaged by the information being presented in the wrong way."