Freedom of Information request to publish schools’ O-level tables, refused

The Information and Data Protection Commissioner has upheld a refusal by the education ministry of MaltaToday’s request for data showing how the students of individual schools fare in their O-level exams.

Saviour Cachia claimed that the publication of such data risked stigmatizing low-performing schools, widening the education gap between public schools, and harming the business of independent schools. 

In so doing, Cachia backed education minister Evarist Bartolo, who had twice rejected this newspaper’s Freedom of Information request on the ground that the data would lead to school league tables that risks stigmatizing and labelling teachers and students from low-performing schools. 

MaltaToday’s counter-arguments were that withholding such data creates a barrier to free competition, that parents have a right to make an informed decision on where to send their children to school, and that publishing the data would ultimately motivate low-performing schools to up their game. 

However, Cachia insisted that his role is limited to promoting transparency and accountability in government, and not force private schools to publish their O-level results.

“Whilst there is some interest by some parents opting to send their children to private schools, the information regarding the MATSEC results of individual independent private schools can be obtained from the schools themselves, according to their policies,” he wrote. 

As for state schools, Cachia argued that publishing their O-level results would only make it more difficult for low-performing schools to retain their best teachers “who tend to apply to highly ranked schools with fewer learning and behavioural problems”, exacerbating the problem.

As Maltese students are posted to public schools, the Commissioner warned that placing such data in the open would ultimately come at the educational cost of children unfortunate enough to live in a locality that has a poor-performing school. 

“This will increase social segregation and inequity in schooling, and all this would result in creating a negative stigma against schools which achieved lower results than other schools.

“The Commissioner is of the opinion that the public interest is better served by not disclosing the results on a school by school basis, in the interest of the students and the education system as a whole.”