Most parents have not heard of the government’s main performance measure for schools, while over a third (36 per cent) do not check Ofsted reports or GCSE performance when choosing a school for their child, a new survey shows.

In the Department for Education’s omnibus survey of pupils, parents and their carers in England, only one in five - 21 per cent - of parents and carers of students in years 7 to 11 had heard of Progress 8 prior to the poll.

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Progress 8 was introduced as a new headline measure of secondary school performance from 2016, rating the progress that students make from the end of key stage 2 to the end of key stage 4.

There was greater awareness of the English Baccalaureate, with 52 per cent of parents and carers saying they had heard of this prior to the survey. 

FSM parents ‘less likely to know about Progress 8’

However, under half of parents and carers - 41 per cent - said they would recommend the EBacc. 

Some 69 per cent of parents and carers had not known about Progress 8 prior to taking the survey. 

Parents and carers of students eligible for free school meals were also less likely to have heard of Progress 8 than those with children who were not eligible (12 per cent of parents and carers of students eligible for FSM had heard of the measure compared with 23 per cent of parents and carers whose children were not eligible.)

More than a third of the parents and carers of students in years 7 to 9 did not use any listed information - including Ofsted reports, data on students’ GCSE maths and English results, Progress 8 or Attainment 8 scores, destinations data or data on English Baccalaureate entries and results - when choosing a school for their child.

In total, over half of parents and carers of students in years 7 to 9 - 54 per cent - said they looked at Ofsted reports on schools when choosing their child’s secondary school, while over a quarter - 27 per cent - said they looked at GCSE performance data in English and maths.

However, 36 per cent of parents and carers used none of the listed information sources when choosing a school for their child. 

Parents and carers with children eligible for free school meals, those who had children with SEND, those who lived outside London and those from white backgrounds were more likely to say they had not used these information sources.