FLAWED BUT NECESSARY

4/29/2008 8:32:00 AM

Donald MacLeod: The Guardian 29 April

School league tables are loathed by teachers, who argue that they crush imagination in the classroom - but ultimately they are better than nothing. Everyone recognises that league tables are to some extent unfair and don't reflect the full range of what a school does. Parents consistently say they use them as just one factor when it comes to choosing a school - but they do use tables, such as those published in the Guardian. Teachers loathe them - in staffrooms up and down the country they have become a symbol of interference and crush imagination in the classroom. Today this has produced an unlikely alliance between the heads of Eton and St Paul's in the independent premier league and the leftwing leader of the National Union of Teachers, fresh from leading the first national strike in schools since the days of Margaret Thatcher. But the question is whether partial information is better than none - or better than hearsay - when it comes to judging a school's performance. Although the first school league table in England was of independent schools, compiled by the Daily Telegraph, the Conservative government of John Major seized on the publication of tables as a key strategy - along with the creation of the schools inspectorate Ofsted - to put pressure on schools to improve. A Labour government dedicated to "education, education, education" had no intention of dropping league tables, although it has struggled for years to make them fairer by a measure of "value added". It was obvious from the start that schools with a disadvantaged intake of pupils would not produce the exam results of an Eton or St Paul's no matter how hard they tried. So now the Department for Children, Schools and Families gives a measure of progress between the key stage 3 tests at age 14 and how pupils do in their GCSEs at 16. A score over 100 indicates a school is doing better than expected. But the value added measure is not yet well understood or popular with parents. Opponents, like Martin Stephen, head of St Paul's, argue that league tables now provide perverse incentives for schools to drop activities like music and drama or to enter pupils for easier subjects. But it is difficult to see league tables being uninvented - ministers would look as though they had something to hide, and while a government could make it harder for newspapers it can hardly ban them from drawing up their own. At least in the current arrangements, the information is accurate - if partial.Guardian

General

CONFIDENCE ON THE ICE-RINK OF LIFE

4/29/2008 8:33:00 AM

The Guardian 29 April

Ministers want mentoring for young children to solve behaviour issues early. Yet funding for such projects may be at risk. Caroline Roberts reports . A year ago, Connor found it hard to talk to adults and express his feelings. He had no friends in his peer group and school was a bad experience. He would get angry and throw things. Now, the 10-year-old is looking forward to "graduating" from a mentoring scheme that has transformed his behaviour and, possibly, his future. The change has come about through Chance UK, a charity that pairs volunteer mentors with children who have behavioural difficulties and are thought to be at risk of becoming involved in crime. "Typically, these children would have problems controlling their temper, getting into fights, and would be excluded from school on a regular basis, or even permanently," says Gracia McGrath, its chief executive. Last month, the government emphasised its commitment to nipping problem behaviour in the bud by announcing an early intervention initiative - part of the Youth Taskforce Action Plan - that will target 1,000 of the most problematic young people using individual support from a "persistent and assertive" key worker. The scheme may focus on children as young as 10. But, says McGrath, problems can be identified much earlier on.Guardian

General

DIPLOMA PUPILS TO BE SPARED EXAMS

4/29/2008 8:30:00 AM

Daily Mail 29 April

Cramming for exams could become a thing of the past for many sixth formers. Pupils opting to take advanced-level diploma courses instead of A-levels will earn three quarters of their final grades without sitting any formal examinations. Up to 78 per cent of the courses - equivalent to three-and-a-half A-levels - will be assessed by teachers, ministers said yesterday. The revelation has raised doubts over the stringency of the qualifications which are being introduced in September. Ministers will argue that the diplomas are more practical than traditional A-levels and lend themselves to continuous assessment rather than crunch tests. They have also said the assessments will be "controlled" - pupils would be timed and supervised but would be allowed to use textbooks and the internet for research. However, this form of assessment has already replaced coursework in GCSEs and A-levels and can allow teachers to give pupils guidance before they redraft their work. David Laws, Liberal Democrat schools spokesman, said: "It seems bizarre that diplomas should be so much based on internal assessment at a time when the Government has been trying to make the marking of A-levels and GCSEs more rigorous." Daily Mail

Curriculum / Quality Assurance

'THE CLASS IS IN AWE AND KNUCKLES DOWN TO WORK'

4/29/2008 8:34:00 AM

The Guardian 29 April

At £5 per 50-minute lesson, employing sixth-formers as supply cover is one answer to teacher shortages. Jessica Shepherd reports A-level student Matt Round, 18, takes a year-10 biology lesson at Chalfonts Community College. Photograph: David Mansell. "Put your hand up if you can name every chamber of the heart, the main vein and artery? Come on now, I should be seeing every hand up. And I am. Well done. "The aorta is at the top of the heart; the ventricles are at the ...? Bottom. Good." It's the period before lunch on a Tuesday at the Chalfonts Community College in Buckinghamshire. This is year 10 biology. This particular supply teacher has commanded perfectly the attention of a class that can, at times, be boisterous. Thirty pairs of eyes are locked into his. Then again, this class know the teacher already: as a student in their sixth form. Chalfonts has started to employ 24 of its sixth-formers to take supply lessons, paying them £5 for a 50-minute lesson. The school has struggled - like many - to find good supply teachers, and these sixth-formers master valuable skills and score points on their university application forms with the extra responsibility. "Right, now I'm going to split you into groups of four. You, you and you ... Take one of the photocopies on my desk." Matthew Round, 18, studying for A-levels in biology, PE and geography, has been trained to take today's supply lesson. He's been interviewed for the job, has stated which subjects he wants to cover, and has had to observe six hours of teaching. Chalfonts teachers have explained the basics of behaviour management, shown him how he can use classroom terminology and technology, and made sure he knows the disciplinary rules and the importance of confidentiality.Guardian

Secondary

THREE IN FOUR AIM FOR UNIVERSITY

4/29/2008 6:26:00 AM

BBC 28 April

An annual survey of youngsters shows an increasing number of them are expecting to enter higher education. The poll by the Sutton Trust education charity found 39% of 11 to 16-year-olds thought they were "very likely" and 34% "fairly likely" to go to university. The survey found that fewer young people were being put off from applying by fears over debt. But the latest figure for young people actually entering higher education is 40% - lower than the previous year. The figures from the Sutton Trust, from an Ipsos/Mori poll of more than 2,300 pupils aged 11 to 16, show a rising level of expectation among youngsters that they will go to university. Last year, the percentage of pupils who thought they were very or fairly likely to enter higher education was 71%. The percentage deterred by worries about student debt fell from 20% last year to 13% this year. But the chairman of the Sutton Trust, Sir Peter Lampl, highlights the gap between the aspirations of young people and the reality in terms of the much smaller numbers who actually go. BBC

FE/HE/ Skills

SKILLS GURU’S SCATHING ATTACK ON GOVERNMENT

4/29/2008 6:52:00 AM

FT 29 April

The man called in by ministers to set out Britain’s long-term skills strategy has delivered an embarrassingly frank assessment of the government’s byzantine web of sector skills councils. Sandy Leitch told a parliamentary committee that when he investigated the councils, think-tanks-cum development agencies created by Labour to improve productivity in each part of the economy, “I saw one third doing well, one third doing badly and one third uncertain”.But Lord Leitch, whose eponymous 2006 review of Britain’s skills became the bedrock of the government’s skills policy, was equally bruising when he then tried to exonerate the councils from some of the blame by criticising their paymasters in government. Lord Leitch said: “They’ve got to have better funding. So many of them are spending their time scratching around.” Gordon Brown took a big political risk by commissioning the Leitch Review when chancellor, in the knowledge that it was likely to find Britain behind many rivals in the skills league.The government has tried to pass much of the blame for this deficit on to employers. But Lord Leitch’s scathing words highlight the political risk of a strategy of owning up to skills weaknesses. Britain’s 25 sector skills councils – financed primarily by £90m a year in core funding from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills – were devised in New Labour’s early years. Some, such as Construction Skills, and e-Skills, the information and communications technology council, are highly regarded. But many others are regarded by their industry’s employers with little short of contempt. Responding to Lord Leitch’s comments, made to the Commons select committee on innovation, universities and skills, a DIUS spokesman said it had this month created the Commission for Employment and Skills partly “to manage their performance”.FT

FE/HE/ Skills

TROUBLES IN SCHOOL

4/29/2008 6:41:00 AM

Letters: The Times 29 April

Advising students to concentrate on subjects in which they are likely to do well may be in their best interestsSir, No doubt most heads would agree that encouraging students to drop subjects in order to protect or enhance a school’s league table position is morally indefensible (report, April 26). However, in view of the grade inflation that now besets the exam system, advising students to concentrate on those subjects in which they are likely to do well may be perfectly sound and in their best interests. The steady erosion of the value of grades at GCSE and A-level means achievement at anything other than the higher levels will do little to enhance a student’s prospects in the next phase of their education.

Clarissa Farr High Mistress, St Paul’s Girls’ School London W6

Sir, David Gibbs (letter, April 26) fails to explain how successful schools will benefit poorer-performing schools by spreading their “educational DNA”. Well-resourced schools will cream off high-performing pupils and staff, and will have the opposite effect on schools struggling to educate disadvantaged pupils in poor facilities.

Marianne Lederman Hitchin, Herts

Independent/ Private Sector

BOARDING SCHOOLS URGED TO SHARE

4/29/2008 6:25:00 AM

BBC 28 April

The government says it has halted school playing field sell-offsThe head of the body representing private boarding schools says they should share facilities with state schools where possible and practical. But Boarding Schools' Association chairman Geoffrey Boult said if the government invested in them, such arrangements would happen more often. Boarding school parents should not have to foot the bill for the sell-off of state school playing fields, he argues. The government denies needed school grounds are still being sold off. Mr Boult will tell his annual conference on Tuesday that boarding schools are willing to share facilities not just because the Charity Commission is encouraging them to do so, but because it is part of their ethos. BBC

Independent/ Private Sector

FREEDOM FROM THE TYRANNY OF LEAGUE TABLES

4/29/2008 8:36:00 AM

Martin Stephen: Daily Telegraph 29 April

The Daily Telegraph invented league tables. As the story has it, John Clare, the paper's education editor at the time, had been in the company of two independent school heads who had bragged non-stop about the academic excellence of their respective schools.In the long, hot and news-empty days of August, and being suspicious of these claims, he decided to call their bluff, and did the unprecedented thing - of actually asking leading independent schools what their A-level results were. After which, there was more egg flying around than might be found in a sandwich factory.There was also considerable shock and horror both at who was in that first league table and, even more important, who was not.Admittedly, those early league tables did do some good in banishing complacency and unjustified bragging. But now, a decade and a half on, they have become a monster, eating away at some of the best things in education.It is for this reason that my school, St Paul's, London, will not be submitting its A-level or GCSE results to ISC (the Independent Schools Council) this August.This means that for the first time in a decade and a half our results will not appear in the Telegraph league table (this despite the fact that this paper's table does the best of a bad job and carries more weight still than any other). Alas, we have no power to withdraw from the separate, government league tables produced by Whitehall in January. DT

Independent/ Private Sector

ETON AND ST PAUL'S HEADS BOYCOTT INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS' LEAGUE TABLES

4/29/2008 7:12:00 AM

The Guardian 29 April

The heads of two of Britain's leading private schools will boycott this year's independent schools' exam league tables and have criticised the government for creating a system which produces "exam junkies". Dr Martin Stephen, head of St Paul's boys' school in west London, and Tony Little, head of Eton College, will refuse to submit their exam results to the Independent Schools Council for publication in the next league tables, which will be published in August. Speaking before the Boarding School Association's annual conference, which starts today, Stephen said it was time to end the "tyranny" of tables, which held down struggling schools and harmed the subjects that helped produce more rounded children. Mark Turner, head of Abingdon boys' school in Oxfordshire, said other private schools might follow Eton and St Paul's. "Undoubtedly schools are now more professional and focused on quality," Turner said. "But there's an obsession with statistics and trying to eke out an ever greater percentage of A* grades which is not helpful to education. We need to redress the balance." "The government's league tables are an absolute nightmare and a lie," Stephen said. They gave "nonsensical" equal weighting to A-levels and vocational qualifications and discounted the international GCSEs taken at many independent schools. "League tables are increasingly not about education but about electioneering and designed to make the system look good. Instead of throwing a lifebelt out to struggling schools they hold them underwater. It injects fear into the system and destroys innovation." He said young teachers were under huge pressure to produce results and the culture "turns them and pupils into exam junkies".Guardian

Lead Story | Independent/ Private Sector

FLAWED BUT NECESSARY

CONFIDENCE ON THE ICE-RINK OF LIFE

DIPLOMA PUPILS TO BE SPARED EXAMS

'THE CLASS IS IN AWE AND KNUCKLES DOWN TO WORK'

THREE IN FOUR AIM FOR UNIVERSITY

SKILLS GURU’S SCATHING ATTACK ON GOVERNMENT

TROUBLES IN SCHOOL

BOARDING SCHOOLS URGED TO SHARE

FREEDOM FROM THE TYRANNY OF LEAGUE TABLES

ETON AND ST PAUL'S HEADS BOYCOTT INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS' LEAGUE TABLES

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