Teach Secondary 13.5

By now, Teach Secondary readers may be heartily sick of the arguments congealed into easy soundbites that are being endlessly trotted out in television studios and newspaper articles as we edge ever closer to July 4th. Take the Conservatives’ position on their own education reforms over the last 15 years. According to a DfE- produced document published in late 2023, proposing the introduction of a newAdvanced British Standard qualification for 16- 19-year-olds, “We have made sure that the education system is fairly funded and teachers’ work rewarded.” (see bit.ly/ts135-MB1) That’s some claim– and one possibly contradicted by those currently battling with funding shortfalls, collapsing roofs and/or assorted crises in SEND provision. Triumphant assertions And yet, it’s this argument that’s been put forward at every opportunity by Conservative ministers, MPs and their supporters. It’s a claim that tends to hinge on two key metrics – the first relating to some improvements in England’s results in the 2022 PISA league tables. This saw children in England aged 9 and 10 place 4th for reading in PISA’s global rankings. The achievements of England’s 15-year-olds in reading, maths and science also appeared to be significantly higher than the OECD average. Unsurprisingly, these results led to a crop of approving pieces in the serious media. The Economist was last year moved to laud Tories’ education record in an article titled ‘ The strange success of the Tories’ schools policy ’ (see econ.st/3LtQzXk ). Elsewhere, Times columnist IanMartin declared, “ We’re good at reform– look at England’s schools. ” (see bit.ly/ts135-MB2 ). Of course, the bigger question is whether league tables or percentages are necessarily always the best way of judging the quality of work being done in our schools. But for now, let’s stick with those figures – how robust are these triumphant assertions? Notable omissions The full 2022 PISA results showed that while England’s maths, reading and science scores had declined significantly since the pandemic, England had remained significantly above average in performance – but there are some important caveats. Firstly, a third of schools and a quarter of pupils overall refused to take part in the study, meaning England’s response rate fell below PISA’s sample standards. According to one subsequent investigation, this suggests that “ Higher performing pupils may be overrepresented,” and some results “may therefore be somewhat higher than they might otherwise be. ” PISA itself estimates that England’s maths and reading scores may have been as much as 7 or 8 points higher than they ought to have been, and that if this over-representation were taken into account, England would have actually placed much lower (see bit.ly/ ts135-MB3). It’s also worth noting that England’s ranking is lower in all cases than it was in 2018, being similar to results in 2006 and 2015. Moreover, one hears scarcely any peep fromWhitehall officials or the Conservatives regarding the 2022 PISA rankings on overall life satisfaction , where English pupils were placed at a shocking second from bottom of the table. Factually correct, hiding a lot There are similar questions to be asked about the government’s second key claim– that since 2010, the number of Good and Outstanding schools in England has risen from 68% to 88% Sounds good, right? Well, when the the Education Policy Institute examined the statistics in detail, it concluded that while “ The DfE’s headline is factually correct, it hides a lot if we want to understand whether this means school standards have improved. ” (see bit.ly/ts135-MB4 ). In short, the EPI found that the actual proportion of Outstanding schools appears to be falling, and is in fact lower than in 2010; that only 83% (not 88%) of secondary schools are Good or Outstanding. It further found that current Ofsted grades may not even be a good reflection of current performance, given that the average Outstanding school hasn’t been inspected for over seven years, and the average Good school for six. Finally, the EPI noted that 15% of currently Good or Outstanding schools are operating under different governance arrangements to when they were last inspected – again, casting doubt on the findings of quality. Incumbent governments are bound to be scrutinised in a way that oppositions rarely are. They are the ones who have been in charge, after all – but will most voters grasp the many dimensions at play when told repeatedly that education has been a standout success of this Conservative administration? I fear not... Even allowing for the crudely simple messaging of election campaigns, the claims that have been made of the Conservatives’ achievements in education since 2010 seem far less robust than they might appear... Melissa Benn Melissa Benn (@Melissa_Benn) is the author of Life Lessons: The Case for a National Education Service , and is a Visiting Professor at York St John university 19 teachwire.net/secondary S C H O O L O F T H O U G H T