ASCL leader Geoff Barton will today (Thursday 30 January)
call on the government to reform school performance tables to rid
them of ‘perverse incentives’ which lead to unacceptable
practices such as gaming and off-rolling in a minority of
schools.
Mr Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School
and College Leaders, will say there is never any excuse for such
practices, whatever the pressure of performance measures, but he
will argue that it would be better and more sensible for
performance tables to incentivise and reward good
behaviour.
He will be addressing the second annual ethical leadership
summit in London, which follows the launch last year of a
Framework for Ethical Leadership in Education. The summit will
focus on how this work is being developed by the National
Governance Association, Chartered College of Teaching, and
Association of School and College Leaders.
Read more about this work here.
Mr Barton will say: “Today’s summit comes at a time when
ethics in schools continue to be under the spotlight. Ofsted
chief inspector Amanda Spielman recently spoke about gaming and
off-rolling in a minority of schools.
“Sometimes, when you delve into the specifics of a case it
turns out not to be quite as clear cut as it seems at first
glance. We should always bear in mind that there are two sides to
every story.
“However, what we can and must say as a general principle
is that gaming and off-rolling are just plain wrong. They are the
extremities of poor practice and they do not happen in the vast
majority of schools.
“The work on ethics in education is vital in confronting
this sort of behaviour. This is because it is owned not by the
government or regulators but by school and college leaders
themselves. It signals to everybody in the sector that the
principles in which we collectively believe, and which are so
powerfully espoused in the ethical framework, are utterly
incompatible with such poor practice.
“The very first principle of the framework is selflessness.
School and college leaders, it says, should act solely in the
interest of children and young people. That one statement alone
makes it crystal clear that practices such as off-rolling and
gaming have no place in education.
“But we also need to consider the fact that these are not
practices which happen randomly out of a clear blue sky. They are
closely associated with the topsy-turvy way in which the
performance of schools is measured and judged.
“In our system, it is simply a fact that a small number of
rogue results can send your Progress 8 score into nosedive. It is
a perverse incentive to do the wrong thing and ease out the
pupils in the margins. These will inevitably be the young people
who need the greatest support – vulnerable children who are
struggling to cope. And when the stakes are so high – when
careers and reputations hang in the balance – the temptation to
find a way of gaming performance tables is also that much
greater.
“There is never an excuse for this sort of behaviour
regardless of these perverse incentives.
“But wouldn’t it be better and more sensible to have
performance measures which incentivise and reward good behaviour
rather than expecting schools to do the right thing in spite of
the system? And would that really be so hard to do?
“We could achieve this objective simply by broadening the
range of measures that are included in school performance tables.
They might also look, for example, at how good a school is in
supporting its most vulnerable pupils and their welfare; at how
well it collaborates and works with other schools for the good of
every child in the area; and about the extra-curricular programme
it offers its pupils. This would be more useful and informative
for parents than the current system with its narrow focus on test
and exam results, and it would incentivise the right
things.
“So, yes, the ownership and promotion of ethics in
education is a job for us – the leaders of our schools and
colleges. But reforming the performance system in order to get
rid of perverse incentives to do the wrong thing isn’t something
in our power – it is a job for government and it must
act.”
