Google has agreed to remove all user comments and ratings of UK and Irish schools from Google Maps, after a petition organised by a Merseyside teacher.
The decision means thousands of often spiteful and outdated online reviews and star ratings left by Google users about primary and secondary schools will shortly disappear – including one-star reviews of Eton college labelling it “horrible”.
Justin Cowley, deputy headteacher at Mendell primary school in Bromborough, Wirral, who organised the petition of school leaders protesting against the online reviews, hailed Google’s decision as “a small win” that would help parents get more reliable information about nearby schools.
Searching for a school’s name on Google automatically brings up a panel with a link to Google Maps and to reviews and star ratings left by Google users – meaning the reviews can often be the first place parents turn when researching a school.
In 2019 Google said it would not allow new reviews and ratings of schools, but headteachers say the ban has been patchy, with reviews still being left for some schools, while reviews posted before the ban are still online after six years or more.
According to Schools Week, Google has announced it will now enforce a full ban and remove all reviews this month. In an email sent to schools, Google said: “This is a change for general education school listings in the UK and Ireland to prevent unhelpful or prank reviews … Existing reviews or ratings for your school will be removed, and users will not be able to submit new reviews or ratings.”
A spokesperson for Google said: “We will turn off reviews on Google Maps for general education schools in the UK and Ireland due to consistent off-topic and harmful reviews on those places.” The change will not apply to preschools or universities.
Cowley told Schools Week: “The whole thing was just about making a level playing field. So our school is judged, and other schools across the country, are judged fairly, and parents make an informed choice, not an outdated choice based on historic data.
“We’re just one little school in rural Wirral, in a small trust, but when everybody works together, we can get a good result, a positive result, from just believing and doing the right thing.”
The move will also bring relief for Britain’s more prestigious schools. As of Tuesday, Eton had a 3.7 out of 5 rating on Google Maps, with one of the more polite reviewers commenting: “I expected more of the gardens.” Harrow had a loftier 4.4 rating, although one reviewer was unimpressed: “Disgusting. Scools [sic] like these are reason why the UK is bound to go down the drain.”
