Flight paths in secondary are nonsense and demotivating for pupils SAY OFSTED

[noblegiraffe]

Ofsted finally saying what I’ve been banging on about for years. Flight paths are bollocks and schools shouldn’t be producing them.

So if your school does, hopefully Ofsted not being keen might make them reconsider!

teacherhead.com/2018/06/18/how-can-we-measure-and-report-progress-meaningfully/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

nor of any schools which would insist a PE teacher give a physically challenged child a high grade just because a computer generated it from their English and maths SATs results

My son's school did. I was dragged in to discuss with his form tutor in Year 7 why he was behind his target grades in PE and art. They were aghast when

1. I said I wasn't bothered
2. I said he would never achieve the target grades set as he was dyspraxic ( and also had ASD which affected his participation in group sports too!)

He dropped art asap and his PE teacher eventually gave up, let him sit and work out scores/averages/statistics and just gave him a grade at the end of the year for turning up!

Flightpaths are ridiculous, assessment grades dubious and teachers usually smile, nodd and make them up!

Blimey, spanieleyes - my ds's school weren't remotely bothered by his PE grade. The teacher specified that he had a good attitude, made a good effort and was making good progress (so the fact he still wasn't up to much and was miles off his supposedly "expected" grade was not a problem!).

In PE, don't think my son had a good attitude, he certainly didn't make any effort and precious little progress! He did end up with 9A*s, 3As and a B for GCSE so all was not lost!

So PE teachers get let off because parents know PE targets are crap. Why on earth is it simply accepted that the targets are crap instead of asking ‘what is the point of having them at all?’.

It seems to be that the whole shebang of targets/expected progress/SATS/levels/spreadsheets/data etc which take up so much time ultimately arises from the systematic undermining of the professionalism and competence of the teaching profession.

My dd didn't receive all her SATS results and we were confidently informed that it won't affect transition into secondary school as they will send over teacher assessment data instead.

Which rather begs the question that if TA is good enough for children who didn't sit the sats/receive results, why on earth isn't it good enough for all of them?

Speaking to parents whose children in the same situation have gone onto different secondary schools, it seems that each school has dealt with this lack of data differently. Most have used CAT and internal assessment to ascertain what set to put the child in, and are using the grades predicted by computer systems very loosely. One has set targets etc only using SATS results, and has informed parents that there's nothing they can do about it.

Which rather begs the question of why bother doing CATS tests or marking anything then?

I agree noble flight paths are an absolute crock of shite. In the absence of any other system that would be more provably reliable, it would seem most sensible to rely on teacher assessment and feedback (with moderation etc) to inform parents of how children are doing.

A bit late for mine.
Her school used to send every subject path they weren't on target for according to their flight path home in red .
Only so much of that an SN child can take before they give up.
DD totally gave up and didn't see the point anymore and is now looking at scraping 2s

And yet... they claim the whole thing was devised as a means to motivate students and encourage ambition... as christina says, what a crock of shite !