The Department for Education must ensure that the impact of Covid is fully explained in the 2022 secondary school league tables, the country’s statistics regulator has said.
The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) has carried out an assessment of the government’s key stage 4 performance statistics and the Compare School Performance website.
Its report says that it has found “widespread good practice in the production of the KS4 statistics”.
However, it makes a series of requirements for the DfE to act upon in order for the data to continue to be designated as national statistics.
This includes the DfE ensuring “that the impact of Covid-19 is fully explained to users in the 2022 publication, especially on metrics and data that are being published for the first time since the pandemic.”
The OSR report says that the DfE has committed to doing this.
Tes revealed earlier this year that the OSR was carrying out an assessment of the department’s KS4 performance tables.
There has been controversy over the DfE’s decision to publish GCSE league tables this year for the first time during the pandemic, alongside the return of exams.
A poll of members of the Association of School and College Leaders earlier this year showed that more than 80 per cent are against the move to publish performance tables based on this summer’s exam results.
This is because students will have faced two years of upheaval as a result of the pandemic.
Improving distinction in the KS4 data
The OSR also calls on the DfE to improve the distinction in the tables between wider key stage 4 statistics and data that relates to government accountability measures.
The report says: “Ministers monitor the education system and hold schools to account through the use of accountability measures.
“These accountability measures are reported with other performance and contextual information in the KS4 statistical bulletin.
“Although the statistics are reported on impartially, it may not always be clear to users within the statistical bulletin which statistics relate to the accountability measures and which statistics relate to KS4 performance more broadly.”
The OSR says that the performance data produced by the government based on GCSE results as well as a small set of vocational qualifications “remain an important indicator of education and are especially important in the context of the impacts of the Covid-19 on children and their education”.
Ed Humpherson, director general for regulation at the OSR, said: “The KS4 performance statistics are a high-profile output that are used by a range of users for different purposes. Our assessment found widespread good practice in the production of the KS4 statistics, with DfE regularly engaging with a wide range of users and using their feedback to inform improvements to the statistics.
“Users spoke highly of the impartial and informative commentary that accompanies the KS4 statistical release, as well as the quality of the statistics. The KS4 statistics set is also a strong example of how data can be linked and shared in order to inform education policy and research.
“But there is also room for improvement in how the statistics are presented and explained, and we expect the DfE to address our recommendations fully.”
