NEWS FOCUS SecEd: On Your Side


The league table circus begins again Pete


AS YOU read this you will no doubt be braced for the annual circus that comes with the publication of school league tables in England. The new tables are due to be


Henshaw Editor SecEd


published today (Thursday, January 26) and will include yet more columns, data and measures. A year ago saw the inclusion of the English


Baccalaureate (EBacc) and this year more changes have been implemented as the Department for Education continues its push to publish as much data as it can, regardless of the impact on schools. Schools minister Nick Gibb, writing in a national


newspaper over the weekend, explained how today’s tables will include more measures of pupil progression. In the article, Mr Gibb quite rightly admitted that league


tables have in the past “encouraged” schools to “teach to the test”. Instead of “encouraged” I would use the word “forced” – but despite this, he is on the right lines at least. He recognised that the tables have led to a focus on the


magic C grade and discussed the impact of this on pupils who find themselves trying to move from C to A or indeed from E to D. So today’s tables will include for the first time data


showing the progress schools achieve with those students who leave primary school “struggling” in the three Rs – showing the proportion of such students who go on to achieve five or more A* to C GCSEs (so much for ending the C-grade obsession). The tables will also show the progress schools have


made with higher achieving primary pupils, as well as with children from poorer backgrounds. The EBacc will return as well. It will be interesting to


see the figures now that schools have had a year to react to the measure – many schools have focused on the EBacc subjects, but I know of many which have not. Those that have not should not be attacked. It is great to see our schools minister admitting that


league tables force the hand of schools and encourage them to focus more on some pupils than others. However, Mr Gibb could and should have gone further


in acknowledging that it is not the fault of schools, rather it is the fault of a punitive system of school accountability that carries such severe measures if schools do not reach certain targets. Many other countries have recognised the divisive nature


of league tables and the damage they can do in the bid to create a rounded and complete education for every child. These countries did not, however, look to reform league tables – they just scrapped them. I make no apologies for banging this drum again – there is absolutely no purpose in comparing a school in Exeter with a school in Carlisle. We have Ofsted to inspect our schools and ensure high


standards of education, while locally schools can be made to publish their achievement and attainment information for prospective parents to use when making their decisions. All that league tables achieve is to feed the national


media obsession with cheap headlines, usually attacking schools. This year, the EBacc will perhaps receive less coverage because of the new measures, but you can be assured that whatever the headlines are, they will be based on only a cursory analysis of the data. In football, if the league ranked teams by the number


of goals they scored, then no matter how good or bad the team, they would all play attacking football. If ranked by number of supporters, then there would be free entry to all games. As long as we have a system of accountability which


automatically brands a C grade as good and a D grade as bad then we are forcing the hands of our educators. The new league table measures today don’t change anything. The tables are still mainly focused on C grades, still focused on certain pupils, prioritising them above others, and they still threaten schools with excessively punitive measures for not meeting arbitrary targets.


SecEd


• Pete Henshaw is publisher and editor of SecEd. Email editor@sec-ed.co.uk or visit www.sec-ed.co.uk. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SecEd_Education


APPRENTICESHIPS ARE in the spotlight as never before. Both the hike in university tuition fees and high youth unemployment has resulted in people looking at them afresh as one of the most effective ways of delivering skills in a period of austerity. Yet a report by the Association


of Accounting Technicians on the take-up of apprenticeships shows that young people in the North of England are 70 per cent more likely to enroll on an apprenticeship than their Southern peers. While the highest levels


of take-up were found to be in areas such as Wokingham in the Thames “Silicon Valley” (15.1 per cent) and Cambridgeshire, another technical centre, (12.5 per cent) – three quarters of the country’s “apprenticeship hot-spots” are found in the North of England. All 10 of the authorities with the


lowest take-up are Greater London boroughs, meaning that young Londoners are least likely to be on an apprenticeship programme. This includes affluent areas such as Kensington and Chelsea (0.8 per cent) as well as boroughs such as Barnet (1.4 per cent) and Redbridge (1.7 per cent). Such low levels in London are in stark contrast to many areas in the North, such as the East Riding of Yorkshire where about 15 per cent of young people have started an apprenticeship. While apprenticeship take-up


rates can be partly attributed to an area’s industrial composition, unemployment levels and differing rates of economic activity, none of these variants are sufficient enough to explain the huge divide between North and South.


A North- South divide


Young people in the North of England are 70 per cent more likely to take an apprenticeship than those in the South. Suzie


Webb explains London boroughs – despite


generally being among the most affluent in the country – have significant pockets of deprivation. Although once confined to manufacturing, apprenticeships are now seen as the most efficient and effective route into many industries, including retail, the media and finance – and the situation facing young people today means the apprenticeship route is one that should be seriously considered. Youth unemployment has been


increasing for several years but the recent figures showing it has now breached the million mark, along with the news that even more 16 to 24-year-olds are now not in education, employment or training, has placed the issue of how to get young people into work at the top of the political and economic agenda. Furthermore, the twin issues


of graduate unemployment and the squeeze on university places suggests this problem is going to get worse before it gets better. Apprenticeships are an obvious


means to help address a lot of these issues, yet the North-South divide in take-up is clearly something that needs to be addressed if we want to offer young people across the country this route into work. So what can be done about this?


IN RESPONSE…


Barclays bank has pledged to support groups hoping to set up free schools. The bank will also offer


work experience places to students from free schools and academies and encourage employers to become governors. Grants of £5,000 will be paid


to groups hoping to set up free schools, university technical colleges and studio schools and Barclays will provide free banking to new free schools and academies. The bank will also invest £15


million in school-based money management over the next three years and will expand


the Barclays Money Skills programme.


Education secretary, Michael Gove: “I’m delighted that Barclays has read the new educational landscape so clearly and decided to make a real difference. Thanks to this comprehensive and generous package, students, teachers and governors will benefit enormously. Our reforms to give schools more independence have created great opportunities for businesses and charities to make a lasting commitment to help.”


Antony Jenkins, chief executive,


Barclays Retail and Business Banking: “Barclays is supporting free schools and academies because we want to boost financial skills for young people. By providing financial awareness training and valuable work experience we can help young people to contribute to and share in future prosperity. We can also make a positive impact to these schools by encouraging our employees to serve as governors, and by lending our banking expertise to school boards.”


Christine Blower, general secretary, National Union of Teachers: “Opening schools up to the market place is simply wrong. Children


and young people should not be influenced at an impressionable age by whichever large company manages to gain a foothold in their school. This is, of course, Michael


Gove’s vision for the future of education in this country. It is extraordinarily flawed and will most certainly result in a two- tier system. Schools in deprived areas whose pupils do not fit the right socio-economic profile will not get the help, financial or otherwise, from business. Any successful business’s involvement in a school will surely be decided on what returns they can reap for themselves.”


There are a number of different explanations for the low take-up of apprenticeships in London and the South of England so a variety of approaches are needed to solve the problem. If the government is committed to providing funding for apprenticeships then employers, schools, parents and young people themselves need to be made more aware of these opportunities and – more importantly – see them as the best route into jobs and a career. A key part of achieving this is


to raise the esteem and promote the professionalism of apprentices themselves. Apprenticeships need to be seen as a modern route for young people wanting to going into whichever career they choose – including white collar jobs such as law, accountancy and engineering. This requires more professions


to follow the route accountancy has taken and allow people to get access via the vocational route. Doing this will change the perception of apprenticeships as well as opening them up to people from a much wider range of backgrounds, distancing them from the traditional “blue collar” perception. Only then will we see a rise in the number of young people in the South of England taking apprenticeship opportunities.


But it is not just the government


who has a hand in this. The Sector Skills Councils have a duty to take a more long-term and strategic view of the needs of their industries as a whole and not just give employers what they want. Apprenticeships need to be redesigned to make them more challenging and taking on the recommendations from the Wolf Review of vocational education last year. Similarly, employers need to take a bigger role and the government must look at how it is engaging with employers so they can be encouraged to take on apprentices that fit their needs in the current economic climate. The National Apprenticeship


Service should also embark on a renewed push to target the high numbers of employers who have never taken on an apprentice and “sell” why it makes sound business sense for them to do so. Most businesses would eagerly accept switched-on, well trained young people with strong work ethics and a willingness to develop further – which is exactly what apprenticeships should result in. With tuition fees on the increase


and a crowded job market, young people have to explore further routes into employment. We all have a duty to invest in young talent and making apprenticeships a realistic and attractive option to more people – both in the North and South and in blue collar and white collar jobs – will be vital. In doing so we can give young people the skills they need to succeed.


SecEd


• Suzie Webb is director of education at the Association of Accounting Technicians.


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SecEd • January 26 2012


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