An Ombudsman has ordered primary schools to release controversial national standards information, overruling advice from the primary teachers' union to withhold it.
Chief Ombudsman Dame Beverley Wakem wrote to all of the country's schools after some refused requests for the information, on reading, writing and mathematics, with a response prepared by the New Zealand Educational Institute, Fairfax reports.
Dame Beverley told Fairfax the NZEI advice "conflicted" with that given to boards of trustees by the New Zealand School Trustees Association - which the boards are "entitled to rely on".
She urged schools considering acting on NZEI's advice to reconsider, as those who refused to release the information could be investigated and found to have acted "unreasonably or contrary to the law".
Education Minister Hekia Parata will announce more details on how the Government plans to publish the data on Tuesday.
NZEI has opposed the release of the information, saying the media will use it to create "league tables" comparing schools, but the inconsistency of the data means any comparison will be inaccurate.
NZN