School League Tables, Are They A Good Idea?

[dave50]

Do others think that if school league tables had never been introduced, children would have continued to go to their nearest school as they did when I was a lad, without knowing about how well it was doing, consequently there would be no ferrying kids to a school at the other side of town because it was seen as a better school? Also there would be no sky high house prices around a so called good school and all schools would have a natural mix of abilities.
It may have seemed a good idea when they were introduced but as with many things, there are unintended consequences.

[atalanta]

Weren't those the days of the 11-plus and grammar schools ?

[andy-hughes]

The league table system is frought with problems, and provides no useful information.

For a start, it has nothing to do with education, it's about appealing to parents, the ludicrous notion o 'parent power' which itself means nothing at all.

Parents are treated by successive governments as the consumers of education - that is because parents vote. Give them the (utterly false) notion that they have some impact on their children's education, and you could snare their votes. Yes, it is that cynical.

So you have a 'league table' - and your school is top. Great, nice for you, you did nothing to make that happen, but you may vote for the party who told you that they did.

Your school is bottom? Tough. There is nothing you can do - you can't move your child because the 'top' school is oversubscribed, so you can't get near it.

That illustrates the futility of comparison, and the simple fact that the comparison is utterly meaningless.

Would you compare the Allies in Afghanistan with ISIS? They are both fighting in the same place, doing the same thing, but there are one or two important differences that make the notion of comparison facile.

It's the same with schools. A 'bad' school may be doing wonders in a deprived area with limited resources and a dedicated staff. A 'good' school may be coasting with bright pupils and a four-figure PTA budget.

What on earth is the point in comparing?

It's not supermarkets - you can't opt to do your big shop down the road until your local supermarket comes back into line with prices.

The best thing as a parent (and I am one) is to make sure your kids are happy, fulfilling their potential, enjoying school, and keep the hell out of things you don't understand.

Yes you went to school - we all did, which is why governments pretend that we all know something about it. Nonsense! I wear glasses - it doesn't make me an optician!

Ignore governments' cynical manipulation of parents' absolute desire to do their best for their kids, and know that you have no power, so love your kids, raise them right, and everything will be OK.

[mikey4444]

Dave50....there is a lot of sense in what you say. I started school in September 1958, and as we were Catholics, I went not to nearest school but the nearest Catholic school. As it turned out, it was a very good school.

I am not a parent but if I were I might want to find out something about the school that my kids are set to attend. There would appear to be some very, very good schools and some bad schools, and I feel that I would rather know than not know.

Whether School League Tables are the best was to decide, I'm not sure, but how else are we to know ?

[cassa333]

We never had league tables and you went to the nearest school to your home. But every parent knew which was the crappy one and would try to get you into the grammar if possible.

League tables just give a reason for the governments to interfere more often. Look how badly this one is doing we must change X,y and g to get it working properly.

In fact it just gives an impression of choice. In reality you only get the good school of choice if you fit the criteria.

Successive governments have tried different methods to improve educational results and have done that to a degree by dumping down and propagating the falsehood that everyone is equal. Everyone is equal in getting the best education but not everyone is equal in their ability and reach a natural level of competence. For some that is rudimentary, for others it is a masters degree in ten different sciences.

We should stop kidding ourselves and our children that they can attain anything and instead they can attain their best if they put their best in.

It's not rocket science.

[fiction-factory]

Mmmm.
The system of rankings/ratings seems to be useful for things like hotels (star ratings), sport (cricket averages, player rankings), service and price comparisons for utility companies, the workplace (measuring performance of individuals/teams/ divisions), investors in companies, investment companies (rankings/returns)- because the information is considered a real aid to decision making for customers, a benchmark for management, an incentive for improvement/attaining targets.
I'm not sure education should be much different.

[ludwig]

I agree with most of what andy-hughes has said. The other issue is that when you introduce a league table system, the focus of everything shifts to improving your position in the table rather than your primary purpose - educating people in this case - and the two things don't necessarily coincide.

You see the same effect wherever pointless league tables are applied - crime figures, hospital waiting lists etc etc.