Accountability
West Australian Wednesday, July 14, 2004
So many who make their living in the schooling industry are content to conceal the performance levels of schools (Letters, 12 July). Then they should stop claiming to be concerned about equality of opportunity for children.
It is only public exposure of unequal outcomes that will ever pressure the service providers to remedy the situation. "Embarrassment" is a trivial excuse to leave children under-serviced at under-performing schools.
Some schools have low outcomes because of poor leadership, others because poor staff, and others because the students are from disadvantaged backgrounds. Publicise the outcomes and set in motion the corrective measures.
Under the present system of zero accountability, children's prospects are being sacrificed to protect adult vested interests.
Philip O'Carroll