Flawed exams

IT remains a source of regret that secondary school league tables, the latest of which are published tomorrow, have become such a source of controversy. The reasons for their introduction were fundamentally sound; namely to provide parents with more information about the success or otherwise of individual schools.

The problem is that their application can make or break a school’s reputation, with Education Secretary Michael Gove threatening to impose academy status on those places of learning that fail to meet targets set by his department.

Yet, as East Yorkshire MP Graham Stuart implies today, this obsession with league tables creates “a perverse incentive” for teachers to focus on focus on borderline pupils rather than stretching the most gifted and cajoling the less able.

Parliament’s Education Select Committee chairman is right to raise this concern and his proposed solution, namely calculating the average pass rate of each student across eight subjects, has merit. It is an appealing notion at face value – it would compel teachers to ensure that they are duty-bound to help every pupil fulfil their potential rather than focusing, almost exclusively, on ensuring that 35 per cent of youngsters pass at least five GCSEs at Grade C or better.

There are still other issues at stake with the recording of exam data: Ministers need to take account of those schools that had the misfortune to inherit an above average number of youngsters who completed their primary education without a sound grasp of basic numeracy and literacy skills. Irrespective of the way GCSE results are interpreted, the greatest challenge confronting policy-makers is a need to drive up standards at the outset of a child’s education. And it is one that is still unanswered.