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New changes unveiled for league tables


by Daniel White


The schools minister this week admitted that league tables can force schools to focus on certain pupils, but pledged that changes introduced today (Thursday, January 26) will bring this to an end. Writing in a national newspa-


per Nick Gibb said that the school performance tables, which are due to be released today, will include additional measures to show the progress children make between 11 and 16. He said the tables will measure


Warning over A level standards


The standards in some A level subjects have dropped because we are trying to make the subject more accessible, a government advisor has warned MPs. Tim Oates, group director of


assessment research Cambridge Assessment – and chairman of the expert panel which is leading the government’s national curriculum review – made the claims as he appeared in front of the Education Select Committee as part of its ongoing inquiry into examina- tions. He cited research showing


that A levels have got easier. He explained: “Rob Coe’s work on physics A level shows that the subject appears to have got sig- nificantly easier. The discourse around physics is, ‘we have to make it more accessible. We have to encourage more people to take it – there are not enough as it is, not enough girls are taking it. We have to do something about all that’. “Accessibility has become a


big issue, so everyone has striven hard to make physics accessible, and to change the nature of the questions and syllabus to get more people interested. The net effect has been to make physics easier. “There are many things going


on here. It is clearly the case from the statistics … that the proportion


of people getting grade As over time has increased in almost all subjects. It has increased hugely in areas like mathematics.” Elsewhere, Mr Oates warned


against creating one examination body as a reaction to the exam seminars scandal last year. Mr Oates said: “For me, the


main problem is the issues that have given rise to concerns over public confidence. Would they disappear overnight if you had a single board? No, not at all. In fact, they would all be present in the system still.” This is despite education


secretary Michael Gove heavily criticising the current system in December following the scandal. Mr Gove said he would not rule out making the change. Professor Jo-Anne Baird,


director of the Oxford University Centre for Educational Assessment, also dismissed the idea. She told the MPs: “If there is


one awarding body, one of the key things that has been raised in submissions to this inquiry is the independence from government. If we want to measure the quality of our education system through exams, how can we guarantee that there won’t be political influence, however indirect, upon a single awarding body.”


those students who arrive at sec- ondary school “struggling with the three Rs” to see how many go on to achieve five A* to C GCSEs. They will also measure the


performance and progress of high achieving primary pupils, as well as students from poorer backgrounds. Mr Gibb said the changes would


“iron out idiosyncrasies” in the tables that have seen a focus on the grade-C boundary.


Writing in the Daily Telegraph,


Mr Gibb said: “We are determined to stamp out any incentives to ‘game’ the system whereby some schools focus on just those pupils who will affect their league table position. It is vital that all the schools give every pupil the best chance to maximise their potential.” He said that there had been a


dramatic increase in the number of students gaining C-grade GCSEs since 1997 and he believed that school performance tables have given “weaker secondary schools” an incentive to focus only on cer- tain students around the C-grade boundary. He said that students who have


previously achieved B grades could have been pushed to get an A grade, while those gaining an E grade, could have received a D grade. He added: “The way school


league tables have evolved over the past two decades can encour- age a degree of ‘gaming’ by some weaker schools, desperate to keep above the standard that would trig-


ger intervention by Ofsted or the Department for Education. “But the purpose of perform-


ance tables must be to incentivise schools to raise standards and to enable parents to make informed decisions when choosing a school.” It is the second year that the


coalition government has made changes to the tables after imple- menting the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) last year. However, Brian Lightman, gen-


eral secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said that it would still be difficult for schools to ignore the tables and their measures. He explained: “As long as the


government emphasis is on just a few measures, there will be per- verse incentives to focus on cer- tain subjects and certain groups of students. This was the case with the unhealthy emphasis on the C grade which has been the dominant measure of school performance for many years, and in this respect the move to recognise wider measures of achievement is helpful.”


London schools ‘overachieving’


Nine London boroughs have been named in the top 10 of the most “overachieving” local authorities in the country when it comes to helping children overcome disad- vantage. A study, London Schooling:


Lessons from the capital, by the think-tank CentreForum looks at the proportion of state school pupils achieving five GCSEs at A* to C, including English and maths, in 2010. It also considers the back- ground of the students, including their first language, up-take of free school meals, family income and other factors considered to affect exam performance. The idea is to see if local


authorities are “overachieving” or “underachieving” when compared to the expected performance of their students. The most overachieving local


authority is named as Kensington and Chelsea, where 53 per cent of pupils are in the poorest fifth of pupils nationwide. The borough was predicted to have 36 per cent gaining five A* to C GCSEs, but achieved 59 per cent.


In second, Hammersmith and


Fulham had a similar target, but scored 55 per cent, while third- placed Westminster scored 53 per cent against an expectation of 35 per cent. The only non-London author- ity in the top 10 was Trafford in Manchester. Gill Wyness, author of the


report, said that the achievement of London boroughs like Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets, all of which are in the top 10, was “noth- ing short of remarkable”. However, she added: “What


worries me is that children with similar backgrounds from other parts of the country do not seem to be performing as well. “Tempting though it is to point


the finger at local authorities, there may be other factors at play. We must make a concerted effort to understand why these striking differ- ences in attainment are occurring.” The most under-achieving local


authorities included Portsmouth, Sandwell, Hull, Barnsley, Bradford, Knowsley and Swindon. The study speculates that London performs better perhaps


because of the high mix of eth- nicities and incomes which can raise aspiration. It states: “Pupils in London may have higher expecta- tions than those of pupils in the rest of the UK – perhaps due to the greater mix of pupils of differ- ent ethnicities or income groups in London schools.” It also considers that the quality


of teachers in London could be bet- ter because of the high number of graduates and that schools receive more funding. It also cites Labour’s London Challenge initiative which has been recognised as having driv- en up standards. Read the report at www.centreforum.org


Top 10 overachieving authorities 1 Kensington and Chelsea 2 Hammersmith and Fulham 3 Westminster 4 Redbridge 5 Barnet 6 Hackney 7 Camden 8 Sutton 9 Tower Hamlets 10 Trafford


NEWS In brief Tweet Mr Gove


Education minister Michael Gove is to appear in front of the Education Select Committee next week and MPs are inviting you to ask him a question. Questions on education policies can be asked via Twitter using the #AskGove hashtag. The hearing takes place on Tuesday (January 31). The deadline for questions to be submitted is 11am tomorrow (Friday, January 27). Visit: www.twitter.com/search/ AskGove


Inspections overhaul


Ofsted is preparing to launch no-notice inspections for independent schools in England. The inspectorate is proposing changes from September that will see more focus placed on the quality of the curriculum, progress made by individual students, and the standard of teaching. The overhaul of the system comes after plans for no-notice inspections in state schools were unveiled. The inspectorate also said it will report on how well schools prepare individual students for “modern British multicultural” society. The online public consultation runs for 12 weeks from February 27 and the documents are online. Visit: www.ofsted.gov.uk


History support


Ofsted is publishing a history training pack offering resources and support to secondary schools. The pack will be available online tomorrow (Friday, January 27) and focuses on history at GCSE, AS and A level. The pack, based on inspections of history carried out last year, looks at areas including: how popular history is in your school, what history you do not teach and why, how you can ensure the most effective teaching and the best learning, and how effectively you meet the subject-specific training needs of your history teachers. Visit: www.ofsted.gov.uk


Teach in Sudan


Teachers are sought to help tackle the education problems being experienced in South Sudan. The African country became independent in July 2011 but only 27 per cent of the population is literate and only 37 per cent has ever attended school. However, school enrolments have quadrupled between 2006 and 2009 – to 1.6 million – but currently there is only one qualified teacher per 100 children. The charity VSO is recruiting, primary teachers, headteachers, inspectors and education managers to help strengthen the education system. Visit: www.vso.org.uk


Study critical of statistics content in GCSE maths Make your own law


The current statistics content in the maths GCSE curriculum is not sub- stantial enough with the same topics being repeated year after year, a report has claimed. A study by the Royal Statistical


Society (RSS) argues for statis- tics education to be given a more prominent position in the national curriculum. The Future of Statistics in our


Schools and Colleges claims skills that are commonly used in everyday life are not covered in the curriculum. Examples include the use of moving averages in the higher GCSE


SecEd • January 26 2012


curriculum but not the Foundation syllabus and the use of index num- bers, which it says should be in the maths curriculum. It also said that aspects such as data-handling in the key stage 4 programmes of study are “manifestly unsatisfactory”. The report states: “The statistics


content in the national curriculum is not substantial. The pattern is better described as repeating the same top- ics year after year than as a steady introduction of new ideas. There is space for more topics to be covered at both primary school and in key stages 3 and 4.


“A number of topics are com-


monly used in everyday life or in other subjects at this level, but are not covered in GCSE mathemat- ics. There are also topics that are widely used, and misused, and so would benefit from being given more attention in the work leading up to GCSE mathematics. “When a topic is used in other


subjects or in everyday life, it is reasonable to expect good practice to spread out from the mathematics classroom, including an awareness of any pitfalls. This does not always happen.”


The RSS recommends that the


maths curriculum should cover statistical techniques earlier than it currently does so that students can then apply these skills in other subjects. It also says that statistics should be promoted as an individual subject but also kept as part of the compulsory maths curriculum. Kester Brewin, acting deputy


head of maths at Sydenham High School in south London, said schools should teach statistics and maths GCSEs alongside each other starting in year 9.


“All students should understand


properly the basic cycle of con- structing a hypothesis, planning carefully for how the hypothesis is going to be tested, collecting appropriate, unbiased data, and then reflecting on the extent to which the hypothesis has been proved or not.” The numbers of students study-


ing GCSE statistics has dropped in the past three years by more than 20,000 – last year 53,400 entered for GCSE statistics, compared to 77,944 in 2009. Read the report at www.rss.org.uk


Students are being asked to tell MPs and Lords what laws they would make and why. Entrants for the Lights, Camera, Parliament competition are being asked to make a three- minute film explaining the law and why it is important to them. Previous entrants covered raising the minimum age of joining the armed forces, re-introducing duelling as a form of mediation, and banning size zero models. The deadline for entries is March 26. Visit: www.parliament.uk/ lightscameraparliament


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