League tables punish poorest pupils’ schools

LEAGUE tables punish secondary schools which have the biggest numbers of poor and disadvantaged pupils, studies suggest.

The tables fail to take enough account of children's backgrounds and factors such as deprivation, special educational needs and ethnicity, researchers argue.

Data from Bristol University shows that were such issues included, a fifth of schools would see their national league table positions change by more than 500 places.

The research also indicates that four in 10 schools now judged to be underperforming would no longer fall into this category – while others are being rewarded “merely for teaching educationally advantaged intakes”.

It follows analysis by Dr George Leckie and Professor Harvey Goldstein of the 2016 data from England's 3,098 state-maintained secondaries.

They studied Progress 8, which looks at performance across eight GCSE subjects.

Dr Leckie said: “By factoring in information about a pupil's background we see a dramatic change which leads to very different conclusions.”

Paul Whiteman, of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “League tables have lost their credibility.”

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