Education Minister Julia Gillard has defended the Federal Government’s My School website after a survey of Australian principals revealed the majority were against it in its current form.

The site allows parents to access information about their child’s school, including overall performance on national numeracy and literacy tests (NAPLAN).

The Australian Education Union (AEU) is opposed to the site in its current form, saying it facilitates the creation of league tables and fails to give an accurate indication of a school’s performance.

AEU national president Angelo Gavrielatos says the survey responses suggest the current use of NAPLAN results on the site is damaging school’s reputations and hurting the community.

“We support the provision of quality, meaningful, valid and accurate information to parents, but it’s got to be provided in a way that supports school improvement,” he said.

“What the Government has created is a regime which will damage schools, rather than lend itself in any way to school improvement.”

But citing the site’s popularity among parents, Ms Gillard was unmoved by the principals’ claims.

“Yesterday the Australian Education Union released a survey it has conducted of what it says are attitudes to the My School website,” she said.

“The Government has made its view very clear. We believe the My School website is necessary to give parents more information than they have ever had before about their child’s school.

“We believe parents around the country have voted with their fingertips in huge numbers because they were hungry for this information.”

Schools ‘ridiculed’

Ms Gillard dismissed claims the use of NAPLAN results meant the site was unrepresentative, saying the Government had consulted heavily in the creation of the site.

But Rob McCurdy, one of more than 1,600 principals who contributed to the survey, said his school had been unfairly branded as one of the worst in the state by a newspaper using information obtained on the My School site.

“I felt in essence that the mat had been ripped from underneath me by a misinterpretation of data that we weren’t given the opportunity to have input into,” he said.

“Five children sat the test; one of those children had an intellectual disability but we allowed [her to take part] … so that she wouldn’t feel left out when the other kids did the test.

“And three out of the five who sat the test had actually been at the school for less than three months. So therefore for my school to be almost ridiculed by the tables as interpreted by the Herald Sun is grossly unfair.”

Ms Gillard refused to be drawn on the claim, maintaining the Government did not support league tables.

“My School doesn’t rank schools, My School is not a league table,” she said.

“We promised that we would not deliver a league table and we have not.

“We’ve drawn on the best of expert advice through our Australian Curriculum Assessment Reporting Authority to design My School, including making sure that if there are very, very small groups of students taking a test at a particular year level, then for very small groups that result is not reported on My School.”

Ms Gillard said highlighting under-performing schools allowed the Government to better target funding.

Boycott threat

Mr Gavrielatos said if the Government refused to negotiate over changes on the site the AEU would be forced to boycott the tests.

“If the Government does not take action to protect students from the damaging effects of league tables and the misuse of data, we can not sit by and see students and school communities damaged as a result of bad policy,” he said.

The Education Minister showed no signs of giving in to the AEU’s threat to boycott upcoming NAPLAN tests.

“I’d call on the Australian Education Union to reconsider its plans to boycott this year’s national tests in response to My School,” she said.

“National testing is important; it’s important for parents and children.

“Because every child has their own report card out of national testing, it’s important for teachers as a diagnostic tool to work out how to best teach the children in their class, and it is important for the My School website so the nation can have accurate information about what’s happening in Australia’s schools.”

Despite dismissing the union’s demands, Ms Gillard said the Government was committed to improving the site and would implement a number of changes to give parents more information about schools.