Schools test battle looms

19 Jan 2010, 5:15 pm   -   Source: AAP, SBS Staff
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The Australian Education Union is set to go head to head with Julia Gillard over school performance comparison tests and the new My School website.

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The federal government is determined to publish school performance comparisons, despite threats from teachers to ban national literacy and numeracy tests in protest.

School teachers are threatening to boycott the tests in protest against the My School website, which will rank schools in league tables.

The Australian Education Union's national conference is expected to endorse the move later on Tuesday.

Education Minister Julia Gillard says the move will not stop the website's launch next week.

"The worst thing in the world is for a child to be at an underperforming school and for no one to know that, and no one to do anything about it," she told ABC Radio.

"I will not be deterred by threats of banning tests," she said, adding that the government would not rule out taking action against any boycott.

Battle looming

But AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos told Fairfax papers that it is a 'touchstone issue' for teachers.

"We have provided governments with no shortage of research and evidence showing the damage caused to the provision of education", Gavrielatos was reported as saying in the Sydney Morning Herald.

"As a profession, we take our ethical responsibilities very seriously, and we cannot stand by and be party to an agenda that will be damaging to students and school communities."

Children are set to take the tests in May, but the union is threatening to order teachers to not open boxes containing the tests.
 

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