A Welsh education expert has backed David Cameron’s attack on “complacency” in the education system.
School improvement expert Ioan Rees spoke out after the Prime Minister launched plans to publish more information about pupils’ performance as they progress through school.
Mr Cameron said that the data would “shine a light on secret failure” and highlight schools with a “decent local reputation” that were simply coasting and failing to develop the talents of pupils.
Mr Rhys, the managing director of school improvement consultancy Sycol, said that schools “coasting” was a major problem in Wales.
He said: “I can speak from my own experience in working in schools in middle class areas, where they have fallen into the trap of becoming very comfortable.
“On the surface they appear to be delivering value for money.
“But if you scratch under the surface, there is under-performance, both by the staff and the pupils.”
The Prime Minister yesterday said concern should not be focused solely on “problem schools”, but on institutions “all over the country content to muddle through – places where respectable results and a decent local reputation mask a failure to meet potential.”
He said: “Early promise fades. This is the hidden crisis in our schools – in prosperous shires and market towns, just as much as the inner cities.”
The performance of English pupils will be tracked from June by the National Pupil Database, so parents can see “where they started, the progress they made and where they ended up”.
In Wales, the Welsh Government has responded to pressure to make educational performance more transparent by introducing a system of “banding” schools.
However, it has refused to reintroduce full league tables, arguing they are “crude”.
Last month, the Prime Minister blasted the performance of schools under the Welsh Government.
He said: “Because they haven’t actually reformed education enough in Wales to have enough parental choice and to have some of the things we have in England in terms of more independence for schools, the educational results are not looking good.”
Alarm about Welsh education performance intensified last year when the Pisa survey of children in 67 countries ranked Wales below the rest of the UK, in poor positions for reading (38), maths (40) and science (30).
Mr Rees argued that improving leadership in schools is a key element in improving performance. He said parents would welcome greater information about pupil performance.
Anna Brychan of the National Association of Headteachers in Wales said that she did not support greater use of league tables.
But she said it was important to track the performance of pupils, so that it was possible to contrast “the skills and knowledge they came in with and the skills and knowledge they leave with”.
She added: “The only fair way of judging a school’s performance and its educational effectiveness is to measure the educational journey taken by the pupils in it, not just measure the outcomes.
“It certainly is possible to argue that in some cases pupils who have very good outcomes in terms of exam results could and should have done better and travelled further, considering their starting point.
“But we don’t really need more data to tell us that,” she said.
“Schools already have chapter and verse on every aspect of attainment and achievement in their schools.
“What they have less of is the resources and support to allow them to concentrate on teaching and learning.
“David Cameron is right in one respect though.
“An education system improves if you tackle the system in its entirety, not just the parts that get the headlines.”
Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams said: “I am pleased that David Cameron has recognised that league tables as they have been presented in England have not been a success. That clearly vindicates the position of most of us in Wales, who felt that such a crude format did not tell the whole story of childhood development and risks stigmatising schools and their pupils.
“That is why we need measures of additional value, to show how pupils are developing – measures available to parents, governors, to school standards body Estyn and to the Welsh Government.
“However, some of the ideas put forward by David Cameron to publish this data on a wider basis would be counter-productive when it comes to getting the best level of education for all of our young people,” added the MP for Arfon.
“There remains no place in Wales for the privatisation of education or the free schools that the Conservatives are pushing in England.”
News By:
walesonline.co.uk
School improvement expert Ioan Rees spoke out after the Prime Minister launched plans to publish more information about pupils’ performance as they progress through school.
Mr Cameron said that the data would “shine a light on secret failure” and highlight schools with a “decent local reputation” that were simply coasting and failing to develop the talents of pupils.
Mr Rhys, the managing director of school improvement consultancy Sycol, said that schools “coasting” was a major problem in Wales.
He said: “I can speak from my own experience in working in schools in middle class areas, where they have fallen into the trap of becoming very comfortable.
“On the surface they appear to be delivering value for money.
“But if you scratch under the surface, there is under-performance, both by the staff and the pupils.”
The Prime Minister yesterday said concern should not be focused solely on “problem schools”, but on institutions “all over the country content to muddle through – places where respectable results and a decent local reputation mask a failure to meet potential.”
He said: “Early promise fades. This is the hidden crisis in our schools – in prosperous shires and market towns, just as much as the inner cities.”
The performance of English pupils will be tracked from June by the National Pupil Database, so parents can see “where they started, the progress they made and where they ended up”.
In Wales, the Welsh Government has responded to pressure to make educational performance more transparent by introducing a system of “banding” schools.
However, it has refused to reintroduce full league tables, arguing they are “crude”.
Last month, the Prime Minister blasted the performance of schools under the Welsh Government.
He said: “Because they haven’t actually reformed education enough in Wales to have enough parental choice and to have some of the things we have in England in terms of more independence for schools, the educational results are not looking good.”
Alarm about Welsh education performance intensified last year when the Pisa survey of children in 67 countries ranked Wales below the rest of the UK, in poor positions for reading (38), maths (40) and science (30).
Mr Rees argued that improving leadership in schools is a key element in improving performance. He said parents would welcome greater information about pupil performance.
Anna Brychan of the National Association of Headteachers in Wales said that she did not support greater use of league tables.
But she said it was important to track the performance of pupils, so that it was possible to contrast “the skills and knowledge they came in with and the skills and knowledge they leave with”.
She added: “The only fair way of judging a school’s performance and its educational effectiveness is to measure the educational journey taken by the pupils in it, not just measure the outcomes.
“It certainly is possible to argue that in some cases pupils who have very good outcomes in terms of exam results could and should have done better and travelled further, considering their starting point.
“But we don’t really need more data to tell us that,” she said.
“Schools already have chapter and verse on every aspect of attainment and achievement in their schools.
“What they have less of is the resources and support to allow them to concentrate on teaching and learning.
“David Cameron is right in one respect though.
“An education system improves if you tackle the system in its entirety, not just the parts that get the headlines.”
Plaid Cymru MP Hywel Williams said: “I am pleased that David Cameron has recognised that league tables as they have been presented in England have not been a success. That clearly vindicates the position of most of us in Wales, who felt that such a crude format did not tell the whole story of childhood development and risks stigmatising schools and their pupils.
“That is why we need measures of additional value, to show how pupils are developing – measures available to parents, governors, to school standards body Estyn and to the Welsh Government.
“However, some of the ideas put forward by David Cameron to publish this data on a wider basis would be counter-productive when it comes to getting the best level of education for all of our young people,” added the MP for Arfon.
“There remains no place in Wales for the privatisation of education or the free schools that the Conservatives are pushing in England.”
News By:
walesonline.co.uk
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