What is a Good School?

The BBC's attempt to create league tables for Welsh comprehensive schools has created some debate, but I am glad that the reaction of many in the Welsh media has been to criticise the story rather than the schools. As someone who works in Engineering, I can sit down and come up with statistics that will instantly convince you that you should take immediate action to do something, but then your cynicism kicks in, or at least I hope so.

For statistics are nothing more than numbers of a piece of paper, unless you understand the context they come from. The BBC figures on face value look persuasive but then you ask: -

• What were the targets that were missed/ exceeded?
• Who set them?
• Is it a one-off or is there a pattern?
• Does it matter what level the targets were set at?
• What do they not take into account?
• etc, etc, etc.................................

The danger here of course is that parents will treat this crude and meaningless statistical analysis like a tabloid headline, mistakenly using it as a method of choosing schools. If they are in a school they perceive to be failing, a few will also no doubt harass the school office on Monday.

I am proud that Wales has stepped away from the English model of using school tables as some form of weeding out 'failing schools' and in all honesty, school tables are a lie. As a 'wet behind the ears' school governor, I am very impressed with the efforts of the teaching staff to balance necessary testing with support and encouragement. They look at each individual and endeavour to get them to perform to their best. Do we really want schools to spend more time preparing pupils for testing than learning? Thank god for devolution.