The Minister for Education and Science, Ms Hanafin, has indicated she will engage in further consultation before deciding on whether to implement a standardised testing system for schoolchildren.
This followed calls at the annual conference of the National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD) for her to "pause and reflect" before introducing the tests.
Speaking after addressing the conference yesterday, Ms Hanafin said she did not wish to pre-empt discussions on the issue.
"But there is a huge variety in the range of tests, there's variety in the standard of information that we have - and there is very little use of the information. That has to be looked at as much as how or what we're going to do with the information when we have it," she said.
"The NCCA (National Council for Curriculum and Assessment) are currently looking at all of that, but over the next few months we're going to work with all the partners in it. Parents are looking for information. And they have the right. They want information about their child.
"I think teachers need that information if they're going to be able to take the child to the next stage and help them with their development potential. So it is how best we can get that information and to be able to use it properly," she said
Ms Hanafin also indicated that the school building programme and special needs provision will be two major priorities in her discussions with Government colleagues on the forthcoming Budget. And she acknowledged the administrative burden increasingly being placed on school principals.
"Obviously the school building programme is a big (priority) and the capital expenditure that has gone in the last couple of years and what we aim to do on it. But the whole special needs area is another one which needs investment and then building on what has been there for the last couple of years," she said.
"They are the two big ones, and then after that there are all of the other headings that we are looking for more money on, and that would range from disadvantage right through to third level research." She said she would be looking at ways of reducing the administrative burden on school principals as a result of several pieces of recent legislation.
She said it was "not her intention" that principals would simply be administrators. She also said she had "yet to see" a school league table that captured the range of educational experiences offered in schools.
Afterwards, she said she did not want to see a situation, which existed at present, where schools are being compared simply on the basis of academic results.