NASUWT comments on secondary school performance tables

Commenting on the publication of the secondary school performance tables, Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union in the UK, said:

“It is incredibly important to treat progress-based accountability data with an appropriate degree of caution and not to use it to make sweeping crude judgements about the effectiveness of schools. 

“Progress 8 provides just one perspective on the quality of work that schools undertake with their pupils and there are many other indicators that have to be taken into account to get a rounded and accurate picture. 

“Accountability systems based on over-simplistic interpretations of pupil performance are not only crude, but also lead to unintended consequences that may be damaging to pupils’ education.”