Free schools did less well at GCSE this summer than the average local authority school, government figures showed yesterday.
Only half of pupils sitting GCSEs at free schools achieved the expected benchmark of five C grades or above, including English and maths.
This compared with 55 per cent of local authority maintained schools, 63 per cent of previously outstanding schools that had chosen to become converter academies, and almost 45 per cent of previously struggling schools that had been turned into sponsored academies.
Although only 20 free schools entered pupils for GCSEs this year, compared with 500 sponsored academies, 1,272 converter academies and 1,227 local authority schools, the figures raise questions about the performance of the state schools free from local government control.
They can be set up by charities, community groups or parents and will come under even greater scrutiny next year when growing numbers of free school children sit the exams.
Advertisement
The provisional GCSE and A level data were published for the first time yesterday by the Department for Education, three months earlier than the final figures, so that parents could use the information to influence their choice of secondary school.
The figures do not, however, account for appeals against results. Last year more than 54,000 GCSE grades were changed on appeal.
Overall, the number of state school pupils achieving the benchmark of five good GCSEs including English and maths rose slightly to 56.1 per cent compared with the same stage last year, but this was lower than the final figures published in January 2014.
It means that more than two-fifths of teenagers are not meeting the widely recognised minimum standard for progressing in education or getting a job.
Fewer than a quarter of pupils achieved the measure known as the English baccalaureate, which is supposed to give them a good academic grounding, with passes in English, maths, science, history or geography and a foreign language.
Advertisement
The pass rate for A levels rose marginally, as did the number of grades awarded A* and A.
But while girls are pulling ahead of boys in most other levels of education, from the first year of school through to university, teenage boys are reversing the trend in the top grades of A level.
The number of pupils achieving at least three A* or A grades at A level has fallen from a peak of 13.1 per cent in 2011 to 11.4 per cent this year, with the rate of decline faster among female pupils.
In 2010 the genders were equal but provisional figures this year show that 10.8 per cent of girls and 12.1 per cent of boys had achieved at least three A* or A grades.
Boys have also closed the gender gap in achieving AAB grades or better. The government report said that this could in part be explained by schools steering more pupils towards subjects favoured by universities, such as maths. These are known as “facilitating subjects”.
Advertisement
It said: “Trends in overall A level examination entries show that the number of entries in facilitating subjects has increased for both genders in recent years.
“A higher percentage of male students (15.8 per cent) achieved grades AAB or better in facilitating subjects compared to females (13.2 per cent).”
Maths was the most popular A level subject this year, accounting for more than 10 per cent of all entries. Computing showed the biggest increase and Spanish was up by 15 per cent, compared with declines in French and German.
The Association for School and College Leaders said that the tables gave an inaccurate and incomplete picture.
Brian Lightman, general secretary, said: “It’s not uncommon for schools to have several grades altered after challenges to results and this can have a dramatic effect on performance tables.”