Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Individual school GCSE exam results in Haringey to be kept under wraps until released by Dept for Education next January
The logic given for this is:
".. we very much wanted the focus of this year's results to be on celebrating the successes of all our students. It would be a real shame for the hard work and fantastic achievements of students to be reduced to a simple 'league table' approach, which takes no difference of the different challenges faced by different schools, pits schools against each other and goes against the spirit of borough-wide recognition of Haringey\s young people'. We are of course happy to share results with our parents."
In case you are wondering, The overall figure for Haringey is the same as last year - 63.6% got five A* to C grades including English and maths.
What do people think? It seems the most bizarre decision to me - I"m perfectly aware of the different pressures that face different schools, but I still want to know their GCSE results and I think I'm capable of assessing them in the light of their differing curcumstances. Given that we\re all going to know them anyway - why not release them now? What does this mean for parents and children who are trying to make decisions about which school to choose for Year 7?
I would link to the article but I can't find it on the website - is in the paper that came today.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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The link is here, Alison. And people will see that this decision was made by some but not all headteachers in Haringey secondary schools.
As everyone will also realise, schools which have stamped TOP SECRET on their results are not in any way those whose numbers have dipped. On the contrary, they are likely to be the highest achievers - showing modesty.
But these humble heads have led the way in protesting against "a simple league table approach". And by refusing to have their schools pitted against one another. So what about a more general protest against the whole system where every summer the media carry photos of Bodo and Ermentrude smiling and waving bits of paper with their A-Stars or whatever it's called?
Personally, as a once-upon-a-long-time-ago C-stream schoolboy I'm very pleased my results were kept secret until last week. 46% "O" Level maths when the pass rate was 45%. Yess!
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Permalink Reply by Alison P on
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That link is really interesting Alan, because that isn't the story I read today. The overall content is broadly the same, but today's story cites the two same heads as saying they DIDN'T agree with the decision to withhold results. Odd...
Phil, from what you're saying, the results that have been trumpeted by a few schools will be very different from those that are seen for those same schools in Jan when the new 'official' figures are released, with only the first sitting results shown.. That will be interesting... I wonder if the overall Haringey figure, which has beeen released will change too.
That's is the problem with any form of measurement, I guess - that someone will always work out a way of tweaking things to suit them - there are lots of examples of perverse consequences in the NHS (waiting times etc) so hardly surprising that schools have a go too. Shows the danger of relying on any single measure.
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Well, Alison, here's the Ham & High website which has the same story as the Haringey Independent. And which quotes headteacher Patrick Cozier giving the same rationale.
It seems to me that an unintended consequence of the "principled" stand of some secondary schools is that public attention now falls on those schools which - for whatever reasons - are choosing to keep their results locked in the head's office.
Phil, I very much hope you are wrong about the official January figures showing that some schools have been "gaming" the results. Surely, that would undermine the case against over-simplified league tables. It would help nobody. Not the school. Not the parents making choices. And least of all a school's students.
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A politician and anyone else is welcome to congratulate Haringey students, their families, their teachers and their schools. With perhaps some extra applause for staff in Haringey Education Service who support and advise schools.
But that's as far as it should go. We can do without politicians slapping themselves on the back for "meeting the ambitious targets we've set ourselves".
Perhaps Phil, you also find it distasteful when Cllr Claire Kober does the smug self-congratulation bit. Boasting about young people's exam results as if she had achieved them personally.
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Permalink Reply by Justin Guest on
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Better to pass by 1% than fail by 1%, eh Alan!
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Permalink Reply by Angela on
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Alison, to answer your last question, tbh GCSE results aren't something I took/will be taking into consideration when applying for a place at secondary school.
There are other factors - and constraints.
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I agree Angela that there are other factors and constraints and I'd certainly want to think about them and know as much as possible about what they are - but I'd put GCSE results into that mix. Being told I can't see them because it mars some headteachers' vision about a perfect education system really irritates me frankly.
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So, the results for the latest academic will not be published until *after* those having to make choices about their kids moving from primary to secondary will have had to make their decision/application??? Parents will have to rely on the *previous* academic year's results to help inform their choice?
Hmmmm. That does not seem very helpful. Nor does it seem quite right.
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