The real crisis in our school system

For years, each school in England has been put in one of four categories: ‘outstanding’, ‘good’, ‘requires improvement’ and ‘inadequate’. While undoubtedly crude, the system offered clarity to parents. Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, has now abolished this categorisation structure but not yet said precisely what will replace it. Children are returning to school in the middle of uncertainty.

The National Education Union has long urged schools to ignore Ofsted ratings and to stop referring to them on their gates. Phillipson’s reform seems to nod towards this. But instead of abolishing Ofsted, as the union wants, she should supercharge it – giving it more resources so inspections can be less fleeting, with more follow-ups and advice. Given that a child’s prospects can depend on their school’s performance, it’s clearly vital for parents to know as much as possible.

When a school writes its own report, there is too great a temptation to choose deceptive metrics. If, for instance, a school judges itself on the percentage of pupils who achieve top grades, it may rig this by discouraging certain children (especially those from disadvantaged background) from tackling harder subjects. Deplorably, it can also fix results by kicking out well-behaved pupils who they fear will lower their A-level score.

 So how are parents to find the full picture? To this end, The Spectator has released a new online tool showing the complete A-level results for every school in England, state and private. Every grade in every subject is there, together with a comparison to other local and national schools. You can find it at spectator.co.uk/results and at the end of this article.

In The Spectator schools supplement, published with the magazine this week, we also name the 80 schools whose pupils receive the most offers from Oxford and Cambridge.