Madam, - Having taught in England and Northern Ireland during the "accountability" debates of recent decades, I read Fionnuala Kilfeather's article on school scrutiny (Opinion & Analysis, August 30th) with a distinct feeling of deja vu.
Certainly, it does look bad if teachers and their organisations appear reluctant to allow full disclosure of "adequate information" on schools. The question is, "What is adequate information?" - and what role does professional trust play in this matter? Ms Kilfeather calls for a long list of criteria that would need to be met; these inevitably include the matter of literacy.
Following a string of underwhelming results as a consequence of the National Literacy Strategy being implemented in England and Wales, an inquiry has now been set up, led by Jim Rose, to look at the literacy methods in use in schools throughout Britain.
The decades of pendulum swings between Whole Language and Traditional Phonics methods have produced alarming levels of semi-literacy and illiteracy in these islands and throughout the English-speaking world.
Far more desirable, in my view, than looking at league tables would be to have the equivalent of the Rose Inquiry in the Republic. All commentators, including Ms Kilfeather, agree that literacy is the key to improved standards in our schools and colleges. No child should be moving through the primary sector with literacy skills below his or her chronological age. Children should certainly not be passing on to secondary school with deficient literacy. The question is: How can we achieve this?
At a time when enthusiasm for the school scrutiny mentality, resulting in naming and shaming, and all the disastrous consequences of such short-sighted policies, is waning in Britain, we should be vigilant here before embarking down that path. This mentality was described as the mind-set that would "slit the linnet's throat to try to discover how it sings".
Byzantine and expensive league tables are the road to nowhere. What this country does not need is a further tranche of "experts" combing the country on box-ticking exercises. What it does need is the adoption of methods to transform the literacy standards of our children. - Yours, etc,
PADDY McEVOY,
Milton Park Reading Clinic,
Kinnegar Road,
Holywood,
Co Down.