Education chiefs say they will not publish the full findings of school validation reports - saying this would hinder the work of the inspection team.

Instead, parents will only get to see a summary of findings.

Etio has a three-year contract with the Department of Education, Sport and Culture (DESC) to carry out a cycle of external validation visits.

Ramsey MHK Lawrie Hooper tabled Tynwald five questions asking what areas of growth were identified in the external validation of each of the island’s state-run high schools and what support the education department was providing to help achieve these aims.

But in a written reply Education Minister Daphne Caine declined to provide the information he sought.

She explained the purpose of the external validation process was to ‘support the on-going school and educational service improvement process, ensuring that the focus remains on continuous growth and development’.

The Minister said: ‘Disclosure of this information provided to the school or educational service would hinder the open, professional dialogue between schools, educational services, the department and Etio.

‘Therefore, this could harm and disrupt Etio's ability to continue validating schools and educational services.

‘It could also prejudice the implementation of growth priorities, which schools and educational services need the time and opportunity to fully consider, implement, test and refine recommendations away from public scrutiny to ensure efficient and effective development.

‘Additionally, disclosure would hinder ongoing monitoring and improvement by shifting the focus back to the validation process instead of moving forward with growth and development.’

Mrs Caine said parent information is published on the individual school websites following the inspection visits. This includes the key findings, themes, any areas of growth, and detail of the information provided to the school or educational service.

The validation report for Rushen Primary has still not been published despite the inspection visit having taken place at the end of June.