Interesting article here by
As a former school manager I can confidently say that schools in economically challenging parts of the country – where there pupils are predominately disadvantaged white students – are both rewarding and challenging environments to work in. However, when being compared to a school in leafy suburb somewhere where the students come from financially better off communities it is certainly a challenge.
What the league tables don’t reveal is just how much progress that school actually has made, instead it is vilified for not being at the standard of a school in a more privileged part of the country.
The same can be said of recent comparisons between poorly preforming schools and the local privately educated and independent schools. There were calls for private schools to take over failing state funded schools but as mentioned in my previous post what on earth do private and independent schools know about the needs of learners from deprived areas?
This has noting to do with class or money, instead it has to do with privilege which is something entirely different. It is not uncommon to find two parents who are, lets say both doctors, at an independent school that charges £13,000 fees per year. For the pupil they have very clear role models there who can support them through their studies, attend parents evenings and pay £500 so ‘Sebastian’ can go on the schools annual skiing trip to the Black Forest in Germany. Now compare that to an inner-city school in an economically deprived part of the country. That pupils role models at home might both be unemployed, there could be a long history in the family of low skills, low wages and long term unemployment. That pupil might not get the academic help at home and parents might not even attended parents evening… lets not be naïve here – I worked in a school where parents evening attendance was as low 38%. Admittedly, I am using two extreme examples here that are clearly poles apart but when asking an independent school to run a poorly performing state school the leadership will have to get to grips with the fact that the pupils they have to work with are already highly disadvantaged and might not be saved by good intentions alone. What happens when the schools outcomes don’t improve? Will they then be jettisoned by independent schools?
League tables should compare like for like – so an inner-city school in an economically disadvantaged part of the country should be compared to other inner-city schools which are situated in an equally economically disadvantaged part of the country. However, people might argue that will lead to lower standards in inner city schools as well as those in deprived parts of the country, a two tier system so to speak. But, don’t we already have a two tier education system in this country? Its called the haves and the have not’s… It’s certainly not a system based on equality for all.
What do you think? Should we be using league tables to compare all schools or should we be comparing similar situations to see what is working and what is not.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-44196645
JD
The Equality Blog 