My School Website: Report on APPA Member Views - April 2010

This paper outlines responses by Australian primary principals to the Australian Government’s My School website. The responses were collected in two ways:

• Through an open invitation to members of the Australian Primary Principals Association (APPA) to comment on the association’s website. These data have been analysed to identify the key issues raised by a significant proportion of respondents, but no claim is made to statistical validity.

• Through a formal survey conducted by the NSWPPA, which was completed by almost 800 principals from throughout NSW.

The APPA members responding to the website invitation provided overwhelmingly negative commentary on the My School website. While a number commented positively on the initiative, reservations about the site led most to the view that it was not making a positive contribution. Those who were positive argued for the value of good quality data and the need for transparency and accountability. Some principals felt that the site gave positive feedback to hard‐working staff who had achieved improvements in student results over time.

There were seven key criticisms of the website evident in the APPA members’ contributions. These are outlined in the paper. While the NSW survey followed a different format, some of the data from the analysis of survey responses bears on the same issues. In the NSW survey, 67% of principals described the My School website as ‘a “time bomb” potentially damaging to a broad primary curriculum’, while 77% saw it as a ‘political exercise with little benefit to schools or communities’ (these responses were among those provided with the survey, and respondents could choose more than one). About 35% saw it as a valuable tool for some purposes.

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