League Tables – the whole story?

Tuesday 23rd November 2010

 

As ever, during the Christmas term, league tables for schools are created by the national papers. Sunday 14^th November saw the publication of the Sunday Times Parent Power supplement. The headlines implied that their league tables provide the essential information that parents need in order to select the best school for their child.  The newspaper further implied that schools not wishing to be in the tables have something to hide. Vital knowledge to help parents select a school or headlines to sell newspapers?

We live in a world of Key Performance Indicators, SMART targets and regulatory frameworks – there is no escaping the determination to raise standards. I have to say that I agree entirely with this philosophy. We should all be looking to do our best and striving to improve; something I regularly tell the boys in assemblies and teachers in staff meetings. 

However, boys are not empty vessels to fill or to use as tools to meet artificial targets set by a national newspaper. They are your sons and our job is to nurture them as individuals and help them to reach their potential. We aim to expose them to a wide range of experiences and ensure their welfare and happiness at school. Inevitably measuring our success is no easy task. It is difficult enough to measure a boy’s progress against his targets in his own school let alone attempting to compare a 13+ transfer, all boys’ school to a large, 11+ co-ed, London day school.

So what about league tables and their worth? As any parent who has talked to me will confirm, I am a sceptic. The prep school league tables are based solely on Key Stage Two test results. Aldwickbury, along with a large number of other prep schools (and many primary schools in the principalities) does not participate in these tests. Therefore we cannot be included in the Sunday Times Parent Power. Similarly, some of the most respected prep schools in the country are in this position and can never qualify for the ‘Prep School of the Year’ title. A little like winning the rugby world cup when New Zealand are prevented from sending a team!

A good prep school must be judged on far more than government statistics e.g. the breadth of extra-curricular activities, the quality of the relationships between the pupils and staff, the values within the community and the quality of the teaching and learning. These are more difficult to present as a table of statistics.

The senior school table produced in the Sunday Times also made for interesting reading; at least all the schools can be compared according to their public examination results. I scanned the list of very good academic schools at the top of the list (we send our boys to several of these). As I looked at the comparison between the 2009 and 2010 positions, I was struck by the fact that a school moving up the table by twenty or thirty places would be considered to now be much better. What does this then say about schools that have dropped 20 or 30 places? Has there been a decline in the standard of teaching? I suspect you can guess my views on this piece of ‘logic’!

The league tables give statistics but do not paint a complete picture or tell the whole story. Only the parents, when they visit a school and ask questions, can do this and thus choose a school where they are confident that their child will be happy, motivated, experience a wide range of activities and reach their academic potential. Talking to current parents can also provide insight. As prospective parents, look at the end product: the final year pupils. Do they behave, contribute and work as you would want your own child to do? Gut instinct has a part to play; you know your own child. This is genuine parent power. I suspect buried somewhere in small print behind the headlines in the Parent Power Supplement, are similar views - but of course they do not sell newspapers!