Union warns school performance measures are not ‘perfect’

The key measure in the tables, based on GCSE and A-level results last summer, is the Progress 8 score, which measures pupil progress from the age of 11-18, rather than just raw academic results.

Although teaching unions say this is a fairer way of assessing schools, they warn that those with large numbers of disadvantaged pupils are penalised.

Duncan Baldwin, deputy director of Policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, says: “ Some groups of disadvantaged pupils make less progress than others because of challenges in their lives, and this can penalise schools with more disadvantaged pupils.

“Progress scores are also disproportionately skewed by a very small number of pupils with unusually low results which may be outside the school’s control such as a pupil who misses exams because of a long-term absence.

“We would therefore urge extreme caution about ranking schools according to this data.”

He added that the ASCL is campaigning for reform of school performance tables so that they include a broader range of information more relevant to parents such as the rounded education provided by a school’s extra-curricular provision.

He says: “This would provide a more complete picture of the work of schools and would be more useful.

“These performance tables come after a series of problems dating back to September in collecting and processing qualification data, the most recent of which resulted in a two-week delay to the information published today.

“We support the Department for Education’s decision to delay publication because it is essential to make sure the data is accurate.

“However, these difficulties do not inspire confidence in the processes for compiling school performance tables and we urge the department to review its systems carefully to ensure they are more robust.”

The publication of the tables were delayed by two weeks because of problems in collecting all the relevant data – including the initial addition of remarks and upgrades.

However,the A-level and college performance tables were published.