REVEALED: WALES’ TOP PISA RANKING SCHOOL
Aschool in Wales has revealed it is among the best in the world by sharing its international Pisa rankings.
When results for worldwide scores in maths, reading and science tests were published last December Wales trailed the rest of the UK for the fourth time.
But one school, Ysgol Friars, in Bangor, has shared its listing, showing it beat Wales and the rest of the UK, as well as standing among the top 12 in the world for science.
It may not rank in the top colour categorisation from the Welsh Government, but if it had been listed as a country Ysgol Friars would be 12th out of 72 in the world for science, 15th for reading, 20th for maths and well ahead of the all-Wales results in all three subjects.
Neil Foden, head of the school, ranked yellow “effective” in the latest Welsh Government categorisation in January, said he was “very proud” of his pupils’ results.
The school’s Pisa science score of 514 puts Friars just one point below top Pisa performer 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 15th in the world with the Netherlands and Australia on 503 points, above Sweden and Denmark, as well as Wales, the rest of the UK and the OECD average.
For maths Friars comes in at 20th place with 501 points, one below top Pisa performer Norway and ahead of Wales on 478, England on 493, and above Sweden and Austria.
The tests, run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, are taken by 15-yearolds across the world every three years and are viewed by educationalists and governments as a significant reflection of comparative standards.
At Ysgol Friars, 29 15-year-olds 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 from the latest set of results. The Welsh Government also does not have individual school scores.
Ysgol Friars’ head teacher, Neil Foden, said he was happy to share his school’s Pisa scores because he was certain they were representative of the whole-school standards.
“They are very good results and I am proud of the students,” he said.
When he and deputy head David Healey first saw the scores they checked to ensure pupils who took the test were a representative sample and found that they were by checking their range of school grades.
“If we were a country we would be among the best. We have looked at the students who took the tests and they are a representative sample. We have compared their grades with Pisa and it was a good, representative sample of ability,” said Mr Foden.
He said schools don’t want to share results partly because they are wary of unfair criticism.
“The downside to publishing Pisa results individually is that the moment you put them in the public domain people 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 topscoring Japan, have selective high schools.
“Only more able high school students are assessed in Japan and in Shanghai because of their selective school systems. So you are not comparing like with like and there is variation in questions asked to take account of cultural differences. That, for me, undermines like-for-like comparison. It’s a broad indicator so let’s not over-react.”
But he agreed that schools and governments should be more willing to scrutinise individual scores to share best practice.
“Unless people are prepared to be honest about results and why they happen 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 drawbridge.”
Education Secretary Kirsty Williams warned head teachers at a conference this month that if Wales’ Pisa scores don’t improve in 2018 there will be pressure to throw out all the advances and 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.