My School, Education, and Cultures of Rating and Ranking more

On January 28, 2010 the Federal Government of Australia introduced a much-vaunted website designed to give parents and policy makers information about the educational performance of Australian schools.

Our aim is to raise critical questions about the appropriateness of My School and NAPLAN by arguing that they arise more from a framework of normalized neoliberal assumptions that model public goods on market transactions, than from any evidence that they actually provide mechanisms to foster better education.The use of metrics to rate quality and comparative ranking through league tables are understood as specific techniques of neoliberal reform that introduce market-like accountabilities into education. The very rationale of My School and similar performance media presupposes that in response to information that acts like market data, actors who have a stake, such as parents, teachers, and administrators, undertake ‘‘positive’’ behavior modifications to ensure that the values measured increase.