School is ‘among best in the world’
FRIARS ARE FLYING HIGH AS HEAD TAKES UNUSUAL STEP OF RELEASING RANKING RESULT
A school has been revealed to be among the best in the world after deciding to share its international Pisa results.
Wales trailed the rest of the UK when the worldwide scores in maths, science and reading were published last December.
But if Bangor’s Ysgol Friars was a country, it would rank 12 out of 72 for science, 15th for reading, 20th for maths and well ahead of the all-Wales results in all three subjects.
This was after headteacher Neil Foden decided to take the unusual step of publishing the school’s own results, saying he was “very proud” of his pupils’ efforts.
The school’s Pisa science score of 514 puts Friars (inset) just one point below top Pisa performer South Korea. The mark also ranks Friars above Wales on 485, Scotland 497, Northern Ireland 500, England 512 and the OECD average of 493.
In reading the school comes joint oint 15th in the world with the Netherlandss and Australia on 503 points.
For maths Friars comes in at 20th with 501 points, one below w top performer Norway and ahead of Wales on 478 and England on 493.
The tests, run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, aree taken by 15-year-olds across thehe world every three years and are viewed by educationalists andd governments as a reflection of comparativemparative standards.
At Ysgol Friars, 29 pupils took the tests in 2015, with results published last December as part of the all-Wales figure, but not individually for each school. Although schools are sent their results they do not have to publish them and so far none other is known to have done so. Mr Foden said he was happy to share his school’s scores as he was certain they were representative of the whole school standards. “The “They are very good results and I am proudp of the students,” he said. ““If we were a country we would be among the best. We have lo looked at the students who took th the tests and they are a represe sentative sample.” He said schools don’t want to sh share results partly because they are wary of unfair criticism. “Th “The downside to publishing Pisa results individually is the momen moment you put them in the public domain peoplepeo want to make a league table. “Data makes heads increasingly defensive. None of us should be afraid to be accountable but it has gone too far. “If we take Pisa as a broad brush it does matter, but too many people take it as gospel.”
He said the international tests didn’t always compare like with like because high schools in some participating countries, such as top scoring Japan, have selective high schools.
But he agreed schools and governments should be more willing to scrutinise individual scores to share best practice.
“Unless people are prepared to be honest about results people will not have a genuine understanding about what needs to happen to improve.
“But you so often get pilloried that the temptation for schools is to pull up the drawer bridge.”
Education Secretary Kirsty Williams warned headteachers that if Wales Pisa scores don’t improve in 2018 there will be pressure to throw out all the reforms schools have made in recent years.
Mr Foden said he thought the education secretary was broadly going down the right route to improve education and Pisa performance.