Are rankings stigmatising schools in white working-class areas?

Secondary schools were subjected to two new
criteria for ranking pupil achievement in 2017

One-Minute Read

The league table format was heavily altered in January 2017, with new
parameters introduced to judge pupil achievement. 

The changes have been met with considerable criticism from head
teachers who say the new format is “toxic”, and that
“disenfranchised” white working class communities – which
traditionally produce the poorest academic results in the UK – will
be “even more disillusioned if their schools are unfairly
blamed”.

Only 24% of white British schoolboys gain five A* to Cs
including English and Maths in their end of secondary school exams,
The Daily Telegraph says.

“If this was any other ethnic group at the bottom, people would
be unsettled,” says James Eldon, principal of the Manchester
Enterprise Academy. “But because it’s the white working-class,
it’s somehow less controversial.”

Geoff Barton, leader of the ASCL head teachers’ union, said that
although the league-table changes had originally been welcomed, the
patterns emerging meant it was “definitely time to look at it
again” and talks with the Department for Education were
“expected”.

Until 2017, secondary school performance has been judged mainly
by what proportion of pupils get five GCSEs at grade A* to C,
including English and maths, the BBC writes.

Now, however, two new measures have been adopted known
as Attainment 8 and Progress 8, which the Department for Education
claims will make the rankings “fairer”.

Progress 8 aims to measure how well a school is serving its
pupils by looking at where they started and where they end
up. It does this by looking at attainment in eight GCSE, or
equivalent, subjects from grade A* to G for each pupil.

These results are then compared against the results of other
pupils who came into secondary schools nationally with the same
attainment levels.

Attainment 8 is the average score obtained by a student for
their best eight GCSE results. English and maths are compulsory and
worth double points.

The maximum number of points per school is 80 points per pupil.
The national average across all state secondary school is 49.9 this
year, the BBC adds.