2014 GCSE league tables

indrid
I have read Dominic's poison in the past. There is no "blob".

There's a bit of a stink locally about this, people just don't understand the figures and see a headline

At dd's school there was an unusually large cohort of SEN children this year which was going to affect the result, plus a large number did btec route

The value added score is actually really good but a think a lot of parents don't understand that figure so conveniently ignore it

Another reason to get rid of league tables is in the school I work in students with SEN being asked to stop work in some vocational subjects. Subjects they enjoy and are good at and improve their self esteem and confidence. They have to instead work on subjects that will count towards the league tables, even though they are of no benefit to the student

So, just changing the subject slightly.

These top 100 schools what does it mean?
How many schools is it out of?

If your dc attend one, is this automatically better than other schools.
Obviously, only looking generally, not taking specifics into account.

Yup my DD has done CAs.

They're absurd.

Get a question in advance. Prepare an answer with teacher (who can prevent you getting help elsehwere?). Learn answer off by heart. Prepare crib sheet in case you can't memorise stuff.

Regurgitate pre-prepared answer.

And repeat.

DS' school now has a 0% English pass rate because of this . Its actually a good example of why league tables should be largely ignored.

Talkin of course he would defend Gove, that was his job .

I have also heard many other people speak up for Gove and what he wanted to achieve in improving education - although his methods have obviously divided people. The link demonstrates the huge obstacle to improvement that the Blob presents, but if you don't want to read it then that's up to you.

Is it too much to hope that this debacle might sound the death knell for the supremacy of league tables and for schools to just do what is right for their pupils?

I've decided the GCSE tables are now completely worthless due to the mismanagement of IGCSEs. I reckon the only useful information is in the A level tables now, to the extent that you believe in this data.

I do not think anyone going to a school doing IGCESs should feel stigmatized by HMGov crap tables. I think the attitude should be one of zero = too good to be counted by the morons in the DofE.

Draylon you're right that the questions are less nuanced in English and it's fairly easy to get a C.

But that's not because it's for students from non English speaking backgrounds (there is an IGCSE for those students but it's different). It's just the style.

Draylon, can only speak for what I have seen, but in my DC indy, they chose iGCSE for some subjects (I think biology, can't remember the others) because it was obvious what the question as asking for, and for the GCSEs there was so much fluff, was hard to figure out what was expected. Also, because other GCSEs were so easy and formulaic would be boring to learn and teach.
Would be better for all DC if questions and required answers unambiguous, and opportunity to stretch able candidates.

And your point 6 is exactly why State schools used them.
DCs school were quite open about doing so.
BUT
this change to the league table was decided after the results came out.
that is why its so nasty.

I think schools choose IGCSE because

1. they're linear.

1. they're largely free of CAs etc which teachers find a PITA and test the square route of fuck all.

1. they're largely free from government interference and marking debacles.

1. they're a bit tougher of the A* boundary so make their pupils stand out.

1. some of the syllabi are a bit tougher eg MFL

1. they're easier on the D/C boundary.

Indrid
I nearly clicked on your link. But will never willingly give that little bar steward a page view. Dominic used to regularly pop up to defend Gove. He should be ........

What an unbelievable balls up the government has made of this! John Snow was almost incandescent on Channel 4 News last night.

This blog has some interesting background - written by a former spad to Gove.

We chose independent education largely because we thought the IGCEs that our kids will take were freer of government interference - so the dropping them from the league tables I see as a positive. Maybe other independent school parents see things the same way.

Our history dept chose the IGCSE in large part because it was a bit harder, but in even larger part because the marking of the GCSE was crappy and inconsistent. I suspect other depts have similar reasons, though I don't know.

Teen
It had to really, didn't it - the two schools have been within a hair's breadth for years - and I know from results day that the tables had done something nasty.

Its a shame though as I can put names to some of those kids and they do not deserve the stigma that the DFE has given them.

Ah Talkin I wondered when a clarification would come out from your DC's school, given the results from my DD's school.

(Just shows there's lies, damned lies and statistics really when it comes to league tables!)

Jeez, its worse than I thought.
The following has just appeared on the website of DCs school

The DFE decided that for an English Language IGCSE result to count in the table, students would also need a result in English Literature IGCSE – even if that result was a U (ungraded).
Over 60 of our cohort sat the IGCSE English Language paper but not the English Literature paper because we felt it was not in their best interests to do so.
The result is that 74% of the year achieved grade C or above in English Language, the students who sat the IGCSE paper were not credited in the league tables (almost a quarter of the year group).

a few words altered for google purposes

Well known independent schools with a reputation that goes beyond mere results will be able to stick two fingers up at the DFE

The others, whose selling point is often along the lines of excellent results for sensitive kids must be spitting feathers because they need to word their prospectus material very carefully.

DCs school shows a 12% drop in GCSE passes.

DSs school shows a drop of 100 percentage points :)

It makes the league tables fairly meaningless.

smoke the idea of not including IGCSE and retakes in the league tables is to discourage schools from gaming the system.

I think there is also a (misguided) hope that independent schools will drop IGCSEs.

But bringing in this measure retrospectively is unfair to schools and teachers.

And actually, it will give pupils in state schools less choice. Where teachers used IGCSEs to help those on the D/C border, particularly in English, state schools won't do it if they're not counted for league table purposes.

Many independents will carry on regardless. And some might start to avoid the next few years of mess...

lljkk
In the long run, true, but then you get reports like this coming out
www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-31044929

smokepole
Do not tempt them. Its been done before when the old boards like AEB were forced to merge.