PUBLISHING attainment levels for every primary school in Scotland runs against the wishes of parents and is misleading, experts have warned.
The criticism comes just weeks before the Scottish Government plans to publish data for every primary school on how well pupils perform in basic skills such as reading, writing and numeracy.
Ministers have introduced the policy because they believe it will help improve standards by making it clear which schools are performing well.
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They argue new guidance will make national comparisons more effective and are also introducing standardised tests to support teacher judgement.
However, critics argue publishing such detailed data will make it easier for damaging comparisons to be made between schools which serve very different catchment areas.
There is also concern that, because the levels are based on the individual judgement of teachers, any comparisons between schools are even more difficult.
Parents, teachers and academics have now issued a series of warnings about drawing any conclusions from the published material.
Robert Hair, president of the Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland, said the publication of the data could lead to league tables being drawn up.
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He said: “Is the information robust? How long does it take to get robust information? I don’t think it will be robust and I don’t think the government has thought it through.
“With weeks to go we still don’t have clarity on what they are going to present in December and how it is going to look and who is going to take the flak, because there will be flak.”
Eileen Prior, executive director of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, said the organisation was not in favour of the gathering of data nationally nor its national publication.
She said: “We have heard from no parent who wants this. What they want is clear, regular information about how their child is doing and how they can help from their child’s school.
“Assessment has always been part of what happens in schools and there is no doubt that there is improvement to be made in terms of how teachers and schools work with the information they have to ensure judgements are robust, but that does not require national reporting.”
Professor Mark Priestley, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Stirling University, said there was “nothing inherently wrong” with teacher judgments and school-based assessment, but warned about the use of the subsequent data.
He said it could usher in a climate where teachers could subconsciously “inflate” scores to prevent negative comparisons with other schools.
Read more: Councils boycott SNP plan for £100m extra for schools
He added: “If used to evaluate school or teacher performance then the danger of inflated scores is real as the stakes become high for teachers.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Publishing this data, which was a commitment in the education delivery plan, will enable a more detailed understanding for parents of the progress young people are making within Curriculum for Excellence based on the judgement of their teachers. “
“Assessment is a central part of everyday learning and teaching for young people. The context of a school must be taken into account in understanding how well a school is doing.”
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