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Concerns arise over providing pupil performance information

Thursday, 4 February 2010

As pupils who sat the alternative transfer test eagerly await results this weekend, a local primary school principal has warned 'messy' problems may follow.
Primary school principals across the province have voiced concerns about being asked to provide information on pupil performance to grammar schools.
Pupils sat the Common Entrance Assessment, the controversial alternative to the 11-plus transfer tests, in November and will receive the results on Saturday.
The latest row about the tests centres on the issue of special circumstances - when a parent feels their child under-performed in the exam, normally a result of medical or other problems, and applies to have a child's performance in class taken into consideration.
The Association for Quality Education, the body behind the test, has advised parents to ask for data that compares children, so parents would be able to find out not only their own child's ranking in their class, but also those of other pupils. Teaching unions have issued guidance advising principals not to provide such information.
The data is to show the child's ranking among their peers, who are listed anonymously. But the principal of Strabane Primary School has said in the case of smaller schools with less pupils it may be possible for parents to work out other children's performances. As a result, whether or not to provide the data is a "judgment call" for principals.
“Outside people do have the right to comparative data, providing it can be anonymous. The difficulty is when we single the child out and have the rest as pupil 1, pupil 2, pupil 3 and so on, particularly in small schools, there might be a situation where there are only three or four pupils, then it can be a problem," he said.
“It may be possible for parents to look at the scores and say, 'I know so and so is very bright, so ...'. The problem is, is it sufficiently anonymous to say pupil 1, pupil 2, pupil 3 and so on?
“That's the dilemma, at what point does a principal say 'this is too risky, I'm going to refuse data'? The guidance we have received just says the information must be anonymous. It's a judgment call. The other difficulty is if you have two children applying for the same school and claiming special circumstances and the principal of one school gives the data and the other doesn't. It could be that an information commissioner is consulted."
He said the legal argument boils down to a fight between freedom of information legislation and data protection legislation.
“It's a question of where the line is drawn between them in relation to primary school principals giving information about pupils to people, other than the parents of the actual pupil. It is no problem for a parent to come in and get information about their own child, that's not the question and never was, the question is what happens if they ask for data on other children," he said.
“It's all very messy. It is going to put pressure on the parents as well, it is unknown territory for them. I would like to think that [it would be resolved before it is a problem], but that won't be the case.
“From next week principals will hold interviews with parents and it's at that stage where parents will decide. From that week we are on the precipice."

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