EXPECT real turbulence in the GCSE league tables next year as a result of reforms planned by Ruth Kelly, the Education Secretary.
Secondary schools are ranked by the proportion of pupils gaining at least five passes at grade C and above in any subject. Kelly intends to change the measure to include English and mathematics alongside three other subjects for exams taken this summer.
When the performance tables are published next January, no school will be able to cloak poor standards of literacy and numeracy in a fog of passes in other qualifications to improve their league-table position.
The sea-change is designed to uncover those schools that climb the league tables on the back of vocational qualifications — worth as much as four GCSEs each — while failing to equip their teenagers with the basic requirements of English and maths.
Just 44.3 per cent of students passed English, maths and three other subjects at grade C or better in 2005. This is 12 percentage points less than the Government’s traditional measure of school performance. Kelly has introduced the measure in part to address long-standing concerns from employers about levels of literacy and numeracy among school-leavers.
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Kelly won praise for her tough decision. But the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) has come under fire for refusing to publish details of a pilot project at the same time as the rest of the results in this year’s performance tables.
The pilot covering every school was conducted to test the new performance indicator, using the 2005 GCSE results. But the DfES is only releasing details today on its official website (www.dfes.gov.uk/performancetables).
As well as showing the percentage of 16 year olds achieving five A*-C GCSEs, including English and maths, the indicators will also show pupils’ performance in so-called“functional” English and maths, at levels one and two.