Turning the tables

The announcement this week that Eton and St. Paul’s boy’s schools will not be boycotting the league table this summer by refusing to submit their results to the Independent Schools Council for publication in the league tables this summer. Mark Turner, the Headmaster of Abingdon boy’s school in Oxfordshire said that other private schools might well follow suit. He commented, “ ….there’s an obsession with statistics and trying to eke out an even greater percentage of A* grades which is not helpful to education……league tables are increasingly not about education but about electioneering and are designed to make the system look good”. The pressures put upon staff and pupils by this system, “turns them….into exam junkies”.

This is by no means a new argument. Ever since league table began there have been critics of the system, and not surprisingly. The problem is that there is not one league table, but a number all based on different premises. Some league tables rank schools by UCAS points per subject, others by points per pupil. There are tables based on ‘value-added’ factors and others that combine both GCSE and A Level results on a point basis. One of the most widely used tables shows of A and B grades as a percentage of all A Level exams taken by a school. Finally, the government have their own league tables which only serve to muddy the water further, as they do not recognise the IGCSE and also give A Levels and vocational qualifications the same weighting.

Poor parents! If you do not have a table of school results how else do you start your search for the most suitable school for your children. The pro-league table lobby accept that the methodology is flawed, but still consider it is important to be as high as possible on a published list- however it is arrived at. What is important is that parents try and understand what the league tables are telling them and make the effort to find out about all the other things that schools have to offer. Choosing the right school for your child involves more than just reading a published list.

To view league tables for all sectors of English education go to www.best-schools.co.uk . Parents clearly have a right to know how well a school is doing in its public examinations, but this should not be the only factor that is taken into account.

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