JOINT MEDIA STATEMENT
Education leaders from across Australia have today written an open letter to News Corp Australia, calling on them to immediately cease the publication of misleading school league tables.
Representatives from across the nation’s education unions, principal associations, state and territory peak bodies, ACARA, P&C associations, sector leaders and academic experts have joined together in urging the media to act responsibly and end the publication of these crude and harmful tables.
The joint open letter was published today in Nine Newspapers, after News Corp newspapers refused to publish the letter, for which advertising space had been booked.
The 41 signatories expressed deep concern and dismay that News Corp continues to produce crude rankings based solely on NAPLAN data without accounting for the greater context of each school.
They warn that these tables harm students, teachers and communities by oversimplifying complex learning environments and misrepresenting school performance.
As the letter states, ranking schools in this way is not in the public interest, causes harm, and does nothing to support improvement. Crude tables ignore progress, fail to show how schools help students grow, and undermine public confidence by reducing education to a simplistic competition.
The leaders also highlight that data, when used responsibly, can inform improvements, celebrate genuine achievements, and help identify where additional resources are needed.
They call on the media to refocus on deeper, more collaborative reporting that enhances community understanding rather than reducing schools to rankings.
Quotes attributable to Stephen Gniel, ACARA CEO:
“When our education leaders including teachers, principals and experts join forces with parent groups to call out the harm creating and publishing crude league tables cause, ACARA expects those media organisations to heed the advice.
“ACARA has long discouraged the use of data from our My School website to create and publish league tables – they are misleading for our parents and carers as it doesn’t tell the full picture of a school. It’s also disrespectful to our hard-working teachers, principals and young people who deserve better – especially in those areas of significant socio-educational disadvantage.
“Only ACARA’s My School website – myschool.edu.au – provides the comprehensive picture for every school in Australia for free. It gives parents and carers, as well as the wider community, a richer insight which, of course, should always be accompanied by a visit to the school itself.”
Quotes attributable to Correna Haythorpe, AEU Federal President:
“Publishing school league tables is irresponsible and harmful. These reductive rankings ignore the real work happening in classrooms every day and unfairly stigmatise schools and communities, particularly those already facing significant disadvantage.”
“Teachers and principals work tirelessly to meet the diverse and complex needs of their students. Reducing their efforts to a single number is not only misleading, it is demoralising for teachers and damaging for school communities.”
“NAPLAN data was never designed to be weaponised into league tables. When misused in this way, it distorts public understanding and undermines confidence in our public education system.”
Quotes attributable to Brad Hayes, IEU Federal Secretary:
“Schools are incredibly complex and diverse. Reducing them to simplistic league tables without context does a disservice to our school communities. It’s lazy, click‑bait journalism that undermines public understanding and does nothing to support quality education.”
“Publicly ranking schools misuses NAPLAN data. It risks stigmatizing communities and undermines collaboration to support all students. Data should improve learning outcomes, not fuel baseless competition.”
Quotes attributable to Andy Mison, Australian Secondary Principals’ Association President:
“League tables reduce the complex, meaningful work of schools to a single number. They tell you nothing about how a school supports struggling students, builds resilience, or prepares young people for life beyond the classroom.”
“Every year, dedicated educators watch their schools reduced to a simplistic ranking that ignores context, progress, and the realities of the communities they serve. It’s demoralising and fundamentally unfair.”
Quotes attributable to Angela Falkenberg, Australian Primary Principals Association President:
“Responsible reporting illuminates, it doesn’t reduce. We invite the media to focus on the real stories of learning, growth and innovation happening in every school.”
“League Tables are not in the public interest. Crude rankings offer heat, not light, and they do nothing to help families understand what truly makes a school strong.”
“When we don’t consider the varying advantages students begin with, we risk overlooking the real work schools do. Fair comparisons require understanding the context each school serves.”
Quotes attributable to Pasi Sahlberg, University of Melbourne:
“Research shows that standardised tests like NAPLAN are poor indicators of school quality because most variation in student scores is explained by factors outside the school, especially socio-economic background, family resources, and broader community conditions.”
