asprilla

Ok, the myschool website is live now.

After having a very brief look at it, I am of the opinion that it is useful.

But I am also very interested in what the good folks of BE think.

Geelong Gent

I wish it had been available when we arrived.

Gibbo

Can't see how it helps when it doesn't take into account the IQ of the children tested. No,or perhaps a very few schools, present a group each year with the same average IQ. The scores will fluctuate because of this.

itigo

Um, tech difficulties - can't see it!!

OK, I can now - as a parent it reassures me to see that the school I chose performs as I thought it did.

As a teacher I think "Oh no, more league tables leading to more pressure on already stretched teachers!!" Even if they say it's not meant for that, that's the effect it will have, trickling down from on high, as numbers automatically create competition. For example, a school a friend is sending their child to has a very good reputation and is in a highly desirable suburb. Yet I was shocked to see lots of red on its NAPLAN scores.......I bet parents may now think twice before choosing it, even though there may be a reason for the red (absences/high SEN in that particular cohort etc).

Just my humble thoughts.............

renth

Doesn't display properly in Firefox 2 on Mac

Works better on Safari on Mac.

Great site.

Rosscarbery

Why do the Australians want to take the worst bits of the UK educational system and apply them here? Without understanding the demographics of the area and the base line of the kids on arrival a raw score ignores the fantastic work that loads of teachers do when faced with kids who may not have had the best start in life or have computers/parents who read to them etc. at home.

No doubt once they manage to create massive demand for specific schools the automatic right to a place at your local school will be a thing of the past and kids will have to travel past their nearest school when they are only offered places at unpopular schools miles away. Sound familiar?

asprilla

I do think you have valid points. But isn't this all about identifying the schools which are performing better than others, regardless of the reasons why?

I must admit, I find it a little odd (and hypocritical) that teachers can, for many many years, work within "the system" which is all about testing kids, educating them, and then giving them a mark afterwards, and this mark is basically a ranking which demonstrates how much they have "learned"..... but then the very same teachers object strongly against these rankings being used to show which schools are turning out better educated children, and which aren't ???

The argument from the teachers seems to be "this isn't fair because 1) some schools receive less funding 2) some kids don't get a good start in life 3) teachers performance shouldn't be judged in this way".

Can you imagine a child using those very same arguments to protest his OP score? I don't understand how teachers can make kids work within the system, but when the system is adjusted to aggregate kids scores, then somehow the system is wrong ??

bourbon-biscuit

Well, that's one definition of education I suppose. I think from that perspective it would be hard to understand the objections to league tables.

Petals

As we all know all our children are A plus students these days so its very important to get the right school. In years gone by we had below average, average and above average children, must be the diet they have now because I have never heard of an average child for years.

So the schools must keep up with these highly intelligent children and stimulate them and get them top place at the uni afterall that is what they are entitled to.

I guess I only mix with people with above average children so I wonder what happens to those people who may have average children how will they ever make up their minds which school to send them to to attain that above average status.

My children abosolute geniuses after all my daughter has spent the last ten years at uni she must be a genius. Son is a maths science teacher he must also be a genius of course they inherited their intelligence from me.

What a load of cobblers this is its like the factory if you put shoddy goods in you get shoddy goods out its nothing to do with the plant running the factory.l

asprilla

Cobblers. The factory has nothing to do with it?! Then how come the cars that come out of japanese factories are of a higher quality than those produced in China? How come the kitchen of your local roadside motel in mornington peninsula can't produce food on par with a Tokyo michelin star restaurant, even if they were to use identical ingredients and recipes??!

Perhaps the factory has something to do with it?

jad n rich

So far I have learnt only 29% of the kids from our state school go on to uni, 90% from the 10 grand a year private go onto uni.

Class free Australia

My bro went to one of the worst schools in the UK I mean bad, he just bought a 2 mill quid house 5 miles from there, so I dont know how accurate these charts are

But I am glad aussie teachers now have some accountability, like other professions, its about bloody time!!

hoveactually

Without national assessment how do you determine what is meant by average? For the first time parents will be able to see the percentage of children performing at the same level as their own child so will no longer be able to fool themselves that they are A plus students. (If indeed they ever did).

Not sure about the "statistically similar" measure - my children's Perth northern suburbs school is apparently statistically similar to a school in the Pilbara but not to the one a 5 minute walk away.

Petals

I agree with that the children need to be nationally assessed I just do not agree that schools should be pitted against one another. What is the government going to do give more money to the schools lower performance, that already happens, reduce the funds to more successful schools as they do not need any extra help, maybe that is what will be done.

Every school used to want to be called disadvantaged for the simple reason they were given more resources and money maybe this will continue now. Now if they offer the teachers from the performing school more money to teach in the under performing schools then a stampede will take on as teachers pay is woeful.


As to part of the assessment as my son said, part of it is sending questionnaires home to parents for them to fill in and return. They did it at his school and so many were not returned that the figures would be skewed anyway.

I remember my daughter teaching at a school it was October and a student turned up one day, it was the second day he had attended school that year. In the mornings teachers used to spend a good part of their time phoning parents to ask where students where. Most parents stuck up for their children and said they were allowed to be home or allowed to leave school early. Wonder how these schools will score, those same parents are critical of the schools when their children fail. Education is more than just sending children to school.

hoveactually

As to part of the assessment as my son said, part of it is sending questionnaires home to parents for them to fill in and return. They did it at his school and so many were not returned that the figures would be skewed anyway.[/QUOTE]

I do not understand what you are referring to. Two of my children have taken part in the NAPLAN testing and in neither case did it involve the completion of a questionnaire by parents.

ABCDiamond

I was wondering the same, as my daughter has done two NAPLANs now, and neither time did we do anything.

On another topic:
I can't find on the web site where they say how many go to Uni, although some schools aim for a different further education than Uni anyway.