Gove pledge: bring GCSE strugglers up to scratch
Pressure falls on 216 secondaries that failed to meet ‘floor target’
Takeover by high-performing schools and academy chains, federation and closure are among the fates awaiting 216 secondaries singled out for Government intervention this week.
The schools failed to reach the new “floor target” of at least 35 per cent of pupils gaining five A*-C GCSEs including English and maths.
The Coalition is continuing the pressure on secondaries with low raw exam results, unadjusted for pupil intake, begun by Labour’s National Challenge.
Education secretary Michael Gove emphasised the collaborative side of the drive for improvement which would be on a scale “never witnessed before”.
“We will work with these schools - all of which have great potential and all of which will have staff ready to accept the challenge to improve,” he said. “We will provide them with extra resources. But on condition they work with us to develop tough, rigorous, immediate plans for improvement.”
Letters were sent to local authorities this week asking them how they intended to help the schools improve in a number of areas, including curriculum, staffing and discipline.
The Government’s new schools commissioner, Elizabeth Sidwell - former chief executive of the Haberdasher’s Aske’s academies federation - will review the plans and order further intervention where she thinks it is needed.
Brian Lightman, Association of School and College Leaders general secretary, said the fall in schools below the floor - down from 247 last year despite the target rising from 30 per cent to 35 per cent - showed the huge amount of work schools had already put in.
“The vast majority of schools still below the target are in the most challenging communities in the country,” he said.
“Most will already be working on measures to improve standards, but this does not happen overnight.”
Overall, the proportion of pupils gaining five A*-C GCSEs including English and maths rose by 3.6 percentage points to 53.4 per cent.
But heads are still smarting about the introduction of another league table measure - the English Baccalaureate (EBac), which requires pupils to gain at least C grade GCSEs or IGCSEs in English, two sciences, maths, history or geography and a language.
Only 15.6 per cent of pupils achieved the benchmark. But both state and private schools say its retrospective introduction, months after GCSEs were taken, is unfair.
Andy Burnham, Labour shadow education secretary, said he feared it would have a “devastating effect on morale” and “create a new generation of failing schools”.
Ministers said the “anchor measure” would always be five A*-C GCSEs including English and maths because it was “well known, reliable and robust” and allowed continuity.
The independent sector is particularly aggrieved as many of its schools scored zero on the EBacc because of a “technicality”.
A maths IGCSE from Cambridge Assessment qualifies for the measure. But the Government has left the equivalent Edexcel version out as it has not yet been accredited by Ofqual. The Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference says most of the 250 top private schools it represents use the Edexcel maths IGCSE and as a result their pupils automatically fail the EBac.
It has calculated that 76 per cent of its schools’ pupils would have achieved the measure if the Edexcel maths IGCSE had been counted.
The decision to leave out the Edexcel IGCSE from league tables also means many independents will continue to have noughts on the headline measure of five A*-C GCSEs including English and maths.
Newcastle Royal Grammar is one. Head Bernard Trafford condemned the decision as “bizarre”. “Government tables have always been misleading because they generally call for odd measures at the whim of ministers,” he said. “But this year they’re downright silly.”
Independent schools have long complained that they have been penalised by opting for more traditional O-level style IGCSEs that do not show up in the league tables.
The Coalition aimed to address the issue in June when it said state schools would be able to offer IGCSEs and that results would be included in league tables “as soon as possible”.
EBAC - AWOL EXAM
The Government has put a non-existent GCSE in its English Baccalaureate.
Ancient history is an option the Department says could add up to an EBac in this year’s league tables. But the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference says no such exam was available last summer, a situation it describes as “ridiculous”.
An ancient history GCSE was introduced by the OCR board in 2009, but students will not be able to take the exam until June.
The HMC’s discontent has been compounded by the fact that a GCSE in classical civilisation, sat by thousands last summer, which represented an “almost exact” match to ancient history, was not included in the EBac.
The Department said ancient history was included because some pupils did take GCSEs in a single year.
- Original headline: Gove pledges support to bring GCSE strugglers up to scratch
Comment (8)
Retrospective assessment is a great idea for inventing your own 'success'. Mr. Gove has shown a level of genius for creating bogus statistics not seen since Sir Keith Joseph tried to make all pupils perform above average in their mathematics exams. Gove has done this by simply using the time-lag needed for the school system to adjust to any new measurement. Brilliant! In future years Gove will rightly be able to point out Labours 15% 'failure' at the English Baccalaureate in 2010, even though pupils didn't actually know they were sitting it and by 2013, when the school system has caught up, he'll be able to claim his 'success' as the 15% figure miraculously rises, with no extra effort or money injected by anyone except a few pupils changing options. I look forward to this being in the film version of 'Yes Minister'; it shows a level of cunning not seen since Black Adder left our screens.
Now that Gove has established the concept of retrospective assessment as a valid measure of performance I hope we can look forward to this being used in other areas. For instance, I worked out that 99.99% of London Marathon runners failed to complete the marathon course last year by simply setting a new standard of 27 miles for this year and applying it retrospectively to last years results; shame on them.
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18:22
15 January, 2011
Brooke Bond
Would it be possible for the TES to shorten the title of the English Baccalaureate to BB? That way we could all easily identify the English Baccalaureate by the correct title: 'Bullshit Baccalaureate'.
Thanks!
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18:25
15 January, 2011
Brooke Bond
Our school scores low because the kids are mainly new immigrants who arrive halfway through KS4 or very dim by reason of social deprivation and very dim parents.
What actually can be done to raise their scores? They are achieving in line with their very limited targets. Honestly, we've cheated all we can. How is doubling someone else's workload going to make these kids brighter/less new-immigrant?
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18:26
16 January, 2011
Lilyofthefield
Lilyofthefield,
Evidence is a great thing.
I have no doubt your predudice says: ''Our school scores low because the kids are mainly new immigrants who arrive halfway through KS4 or very dim by reason of social deprivation and very dim parents.'' I have seen no evidence which supports your view.
There has been a lot of research into why children don't 'achieve' nobody has identified immigration, dim-kids or dim-parents as a factor.
You missed the point asking ''What actually can be done to raise their scores?'' It isn't about the 'score' it is about 'education'.
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13:19
17 January, 2011
Brooke Bond
i wouldn't mind but the arts have been forgotten about yet again and this means less pupils taking my subject again!
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20:24
19 January, 2011
grayama
Just in case people thought the private sector schools back Gove & his Bullshit-Bac; here is a letter sent to all HMC 'public' schools recently........
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12 January 2011
MANY HMC STUDENTS MISS “HALF-BAKED” BACC
Many of England’s most academically successful schools will have no candidates achieving the new English Baccalaureate in the 2010 Government performance tables, published this week, because of the arbitrary and narrowly prescriptive way it has been defined.
A survey of more than half the 250 schools in the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC) found that three-quarters (75.6%) of candidates have gained the requisite GCSE grades in English, maths, two science subjects, a foreign or classical language and a humanities subject.
But because of the arbitrary exclusion of one examination board’s IGCSE (International GCSE) maths qualification, and the requirement that candidates taking separate sciences must enter all three and pass two, many schools will be shown as having no students qualifying for the new EBacc.
The new benchmark has also been criticised by HMC heads for being too prescriptive and for excluding creative subjects.
And evidence of its having been devised in haste – with the inclusion of a subject (Ancient History) which does not issue its first results until 2011, at the expense of one (Classical Civilisation) which is taken by many candidates – seriously undermines its credibility.
Christopher Ray, High Master of Manchester Grammar School and chairman of HMC’s academic policy committee, said today: “At MGS, we believe that every boy at MGS receives the rounded education which is the Government’s aspiration. But none will gain the EBAcc, because they all entered, and passed, typically with A* or A grades, the Edexcel IGCSE maths exam. This absurd situation will be replicated in most HMC schools.
“Independent schools have long been in favour of a core GCSE curriculum entitlement of English, maths, a modern foreign language, science, a humanities and a creative subject. It is part of our DNA, something which Michael Gove, like Labour’s Lord Adonis before him, wants us to share. But he appears not to understand what makes schools like ours successful.
“The EBacc is a half-baked initiative. The narrow specifications the Government has drawn simply fail to recognise the obvious success of most students in our schools.
“The recent White Paper promised less ‘unnecessary prescription’ and schools having greater control over what is taught. But the current English Baccalaureate is both narrowly and badly prescriptive. Its definition of humanities as history and geography only excludes some subjects we would generally regard as central. In particular, the failure to include English literature in any category is woeful and bizarre.
“As for the inclusion of GCSE Ancient History, for which there were no examination results last year, at the expense of Classical Civilisation, this betrays a doctrinaire and dangerous ignorance of actual practice in schools.
“Although the general principle is a laudable one, the rushed introduction of the EBacc does not sit easily with the government’s intentions of greater partnership with schools and trusting and respecting the professionals.”
The Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference, established in 1869, is the oldest and largest (in pupil numbers) of the UK independent schools’ associations. Its 250 members include most of the largest and most successful senior co-educational, boys’ and girls’ schools and educate more than 190,000 children.
Contacts:
Christopher Ray, The Manchester Grammar School, 0161 2247 5977 / 07843 216155
Dick Davison, HMC Press Officer, 07725 754824
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18:38
23 January, 2011
Brooke Bond
It is interesting to observe that most teachers I meet are scathing about the educational value of league tables. Yet, when a change is introduced which results in their school slipping down the table they become very animated. Make your minds up people. Either these things matter, or they don't.
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19:57
17 March, 2011
Billybong
Billy, its because league tables are a double edged sword. League tables in themselves dont have much educational value as it is hard to use this type of data to analyse what is really happening in a school when their results go up or down. However, league tables are used by parents who will move to an area with "good" schools and it is the demand for places from these students that schools want, as it often helps to push up the exam results and raises the general profile of the school.
So to me, as an educationalist league tables dont matter, but as a teacher employed by a school they do. It is an ideal world or real world situation.
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0:38
20 March, 2011
Star_Teacher