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League tables are ‘only of use to estate agents’
Special Report: With hundreds of parents demanding a school for their children the New Journal examines the controversies over the future of education
GCSE league tables are of more use to estate agents trying to get extra cash for houses than for parents trying to choose a school, Camden’s National Union of Teachers chief said this week.
As published results showed Camden performed worse than forecast last autumn, NUT branch secretary Kevin Courtenay said: “The league tables tell you nothing about where to send your individual child: in any case, most parents have no choice anyway.
“We should be moving towards the model of places like Finland, where every school is good and you send your child to the nearest one.
“All the studies show that the schools at the top of the table are in areas that are better off; league tables are fine for premiership football but they’ve got nothing to do with good education.
“They are only of use to estate agents bumping up the price of properties in well-heeled areas.”
The figures published on Thursday show that more than five per cent fewer Camden schoolchildren gain five good GCSEs at grades A* to C than the national average, with Camden School for Girls replacing La Saint Union as the highest performing secondary in the borough.
Camden beat the national average for the first time in 2004 but slumped back two-and-a-half per cent last year, a worse figure than the one per cent drop predicted in September, while the national average has improved by four per cent.
Camden’s results have see-sawed up and down almost every year since 1990 but the overall trend is up from around 40 per cent to the current 52 per cent scoring five good GCSEs.
Results slumped worst at Acland Burghley, Parliament Hill and La Sainte Union, although Parliament Hill still equals the national average of 57 per cent of students scoring five good GCSEs and La Sainte Union scores well above the average with 74 per cent.
It was pipped to the top spot by Camden School for Girls, where 75 per cent got five good grades.
Hampstead emerged as the highest achieving mixed-sex school after two years of level pegging with Acland Burghley, falling just two per cent to 54 per cent getting five good GCSEs while Acland Burghley fell six per cent to 50 per cent.
Haverstock maintained good progress from its low base, increasing to 39 per cent getting five good GCSEs, up from 33 per cent, while Maria Fidelis improved slightly to 44 per cent.
Although the league tables are supposed to help parents decide where to send their children, in practice most have little choice over which of Camden’s heavily-oversubscribed schools they send their children to, and parents in the extreme south and north-west of the borough have no hope of a place at a Camden school whatsoever and are campaigning for extra secondaries.
The situation is exacerbated by the comparitatively poor schools in neighbouring Islington, where results also declined last year.
A council spokesman said: “The final GCSE results are lower than summer’s provisional figures because results from special schools have been taken into account and other adjustments made.
“The council, in partnership with schools, has already begun to put in place measures to ensure that GCSE results will again continue to improve in future.”
| School |
Pupils achieving Grade A*-C 2005 |
Pupils achieving Grade A*-C 2004 |
Pupils achieving Grade A*-G 2005 |
Pupils achieving Grade A*-G 2005 |
Acland Burghley
|
50%
|
56%
|
88%
|
90% |
| Camden School for Girls |
75% |
74% |
92% |
98% |
| Hampstead School |
54% |
56% |
88% |
87% |
| Haverstock School |
39% |
33% |
87% |
80% |
| La Sainte Union |
74% |
80% |
97% |
97% |
| Maria Fidelis |
44% |
43% |
91% |
96% |
| Parliament Hill School |
57% |
66% |
90% |
90% |
| South Camden Community School |
30% |
35% |
91% |
89% |
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