What can we do?

1. We need to get rid of league tables

To quote Lisa Freedman in The Financial Times 3rd September 2005:

“When I was at school, kids were expelled for drink, drugs and sex. Nowadays, there is a new sackable offence – at least for children in private schools, where pupils often get kicked out for not reaching their performance targets. If GCSE, AS or SAT results don’t match a school’s expectation, a student – even the best-behaved and most diligent child – can be asked to clear their desk. And school kids aren’t protected by the legislation that safeguards employees.

This extraordinary transformation has come about largely as a result of league tables.”

She goes on to say: “Originally a clever – and arguably necessary – consumer exercise to help parents paying large sums of money for an education they frequently knew little about, many educationalists believe they (the league tables) have since become bite-size data that give only a crude indication of a school’s educational worth. They are a far less illuminating source of parental guidance than the reports carried out by the Independent Schools Inspectorate and by Ofsted and are now considered by many, including Dr. Martin Stephen, high master of league-topping St. Paul’s School, as “a cancer on the face of education.”’

So there is already disquiet among teachers and educationalists on the publication of league tables – let’s capitalise on this. Some schools are already refusing to submit results for publication in the league tables. According to The Times on August 21st 2008:

“Eton, St. Paul’s and Winchester College are among dozens of independent schools boycotting league tables by refusing to release their exam results.

Their head teachers claim that rankings penalise schools that take weaker pupils and encourage the teaching of softer subjects.

… Almost 50 independent schools including Radley and Marlborough Colleges, have withheld their A level results.”

2. We need to push for an impartial body to oversee an appeals process within the independent sector

Even when schools have an appeal committee, it is chaired by their appointees. The Ombudsman or appeal committee needs to be totally independent of the private sector.

Geoff Lucas of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC) says that this (problem ofexclusion of pupils for AS results) is “anecdotal”and “is not something we have quantified”, (Sunday Telegraph Sept. 5th 2004). Well, let’s give the HMC some numbers, so it is quantifiable:

How do we achieve this:

a. By lobbying a M.P. – Click on this hyperlink: WriteToThem.com to e-mail your MP. (I wanted to download a letter for you to send on, but this is not allowed according to the WriteToThem website). In your own words and using mine on this website as an outline, please write to your MP. Just stick to the two arguments: abolition of league tables and a right of appeal in independent schools.

Alternatively, if you don’t want to use the net, you can post a letter to your MP via the House of Commons, London SW1A OAA: Or ‘phone: Tel. 0207 219 4196.

b. Joining a petition – please add your name to the Number 10 website. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a parent, grandparent, teacher or have nothing whatsoever to do with private education. If you can see the anomalies in the current system and want to help, then please click on this hyperlink: http://www.petitions.number10gov.uk/list – our petition is titled: indep-sch-reform

c. Adding your comments to the Feedback form on this website to name and shame schools or if you prefer, fill in the letter provided and email it back to me. I need facts and figures to prove to the HMC that there is a serious problem here that needs to be addressed.

Why is this a good time to do this?

1. The Credit Crunch – to quote from the Sunday Telegraph on 12th October 2008:

• “Analysts predict a 5 per cent fall in pupil numbers at independent schools, which could mean dozens closing.

• The state sector may struggle to accommodate the pupils who switch, they claim. Pass marks for entry into independent schools could be lowered to increase their potential market.

• Prep schools expected to be particularly badly hit.
  
  
• Pupil numbers in Independent Schools Council schools fell by 1,200 in 1991, the last recession, and by a further 6,000 over the next year. It took seven years for numbers to recover.”

2. The Demographic Dip

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) which charts population growth and decline, states there were low fertility rates in the late 1980s and 1990s – these children are now of school age. The statistics are presented as a pyramid.

“A sharp tapering of the pyramid for people aged 30 to 36 reflects the low fertility in the mid to late 1970s. Another narrowing of the pyramid appears between the ages of 5 and 19; this reflects the low fertility rates during the late 1980s and 1990s.”

In other words there are fewer children to go to school and fewer families able to afford the fees. This should put some pressure on schools to listen to parent’s anxieties.

3. The United Nations Committee on Rights of the Child report

This recently published report has criticised the British education system for failing to give the right of appeal on expulsion from British schools. Failure to do so breaches their Human Rights. No doubt this was intended to apply to the state sector, but there is no reason why it couldn’t be cited in the independent sector as well.