Garff MHK Daphne Caine says that the island’s educational establishment is not open.

She has been campaigning for performance data on primary schools to be made public.

As the Manx Independent reported last week, Mrs Caine is seeking attainment percentages for schools in 2017-18.

The Department of Education, Sport and Children, said it couldn’t provide those until September.

And officials said that school performance data could mean that individual children might be identified.

In England, the government publishes primary school performance tables for Key Stage 2 (11-year-old) SATs results.

Effectively, that means that league tables can be drawn up and parents can compare schools.

Here, Mrs Caine tells iomtoday.co.im why she’s so keen for school’s performance details to be made public.

My motivation in seeking performance data on primary schools is simply because I want to establish that the high standards of education we want for our children are being achieved and maintained across the island.

In my time as Children’s Champion I was contacted by numerous education professionals and parents who expressed concern about certain schools, the increasing use of private tutors and the lack of openness about performance by DESC.

If the department routinely collects such data, I believe parents and students should have access to it. Collecting and publishing attainment data is essential for social mobility in my view. If you don’t do reception class baselines and end of primary tests it is the poorer pupils who could lose out as strengths and weaknesses could be missed and poor schools might settle for mediocrity or worse.

I want evidence that there is equal opportunity in our education system and high aspirations across the island. I haven’t seen that.

In fact the opposite: a secondary headteacher confirmed to me recently that only three students from a particular primary school had gone to university in the past 20 years. I find that shocking. When I questioned the department they said they don’t keep such information.

By routinely publishing data, it will flag up any areas of concern that I would hope would enable the department to focus resources on the areas of greatest need.

I acknowledge concerns that publishing attainment data might lead to a narrowing of the curriculum or change how classes are taught.

Nobody would want that, and it’s for the department to ensure breadth of study and access to a range of subjects is maintained. I actually want to see schools and teachers better supported. I certainly don’t want to take away the autonomy of individual schools to follow their own curriculum.

Of course attainment isn’t the only measure of a school’s performance but surely it remains an important factor, a desired outcome of education.

Employers may want students who are able to think for themselves, who can solve problems and not just remember facts but exam results are still an indication of ability.

We want all our students to do well in exams and in extracurricular activities too so we need the best possible system to enable that.

It is frustrating that DESC says the performance data it collected in June won’t be validated until September.

It doesn’t undertake to publish it as I requested and again lists its concerns against doing so.

But I’m not going to give up and go away. If there’s nothing to hide, the data should be published and made easily accessible. It should be issued as routine, it shouldn’t be a big deal.

I don’t accept that individual children could be identified by publishing GLD scores on small classes.

Who would know which children achieved the level even amongst the wider school population? I certainly don’t in my own child’s school and nor should I.

But I am still interested in the overall score and the year 6 attainment levels.

Also, if the department is concerned data could be taken out of context, it has the opportunity to provide context when publishing it.

Finally, I am disappointed in the response to my other question about quality assessing the department’s own quality assessors, the Education Improvement Service. Minister Graham Cregeen previously said Ofsted last reviewed the department in 2002. His latest answer seems to suggest that DESC is now too different from any other education authority to be benchmarked against them or professionally peer reviewed.

Overall it suggests a department that sets its own standards, obfuscates attainment data, isn’t open and certainly not open to challenge.

In all this I should emphasise I do believe we have excellent schools on the island.

I’m just not sure the education department is as supportive or aspirational as it could be for all schools, nor is it as open in reporting on educational attainment as the modern world demands and parents and students here deserve.