A spokesperson for the Department said: “The statement from INTO contains a number of inaccuracies which need to be corrected. There was no leaking of information regarding the Pupil Profile. A senior Department of Education official gave evidence to an open session of the Assembly Education Committee on proposals for new annual reporting arrangements to parents. Teacher unions were aware some months ago that this process was underway.
“The Pupil Profile was introduced in 2007 on a pilot basis as a standard format for annual reporting to parents. An evaluation showed that while the Pupil Profile had positive aspects, there were concerns that some schools provided less information to parents than before.
“The Department is committed to ensuring full information is available to parents on how well their children are doing at school. To provide for this, the Department will next week launch for consultation Regulations to set out the minimum areas schools should include in annual reports to parents. It is planned that the new annual reporting arrangements will be phased in from the end of the 2008/09 school year.
“It has never been intended that either the Pupil Profile or the annual reporting proposals would be used in informing decisions on transfer from primary to post-primary school.”
Notes to Editors:
Media queries to the Department of Education Press Office on 028 9127 9755. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Office via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.
