Progress 8 (P8) is not fit for purpose and undermines inclusion, a multi-academy trust (MAT) leader has warned.
In a speech to the Tes SEND Show, Jonny Uttley suggested the government’s main performance measure is “entirely gameable” and results in some of the most vulnerable young people in the country losing out.
Mr Uttley, chief executive of The Education Alliance, which runs 12 schools in East Yorkshire and Hull, warned that the current system of accountability, regulation and inspection is broken.
P8 rewards schools for being less inclusive
He raised particular concerns about P8, which was introduced in 2016 to provide a score for schools based on comparing students’ progress across eight qualifications from the end of key stage 2 to the end of key stage 4.
During a presentation today, Mr Uttley gave examples of how schools could boost scores and get rewarded for being less inclusive, including removing students to alternative provision, encouraging lower-attaining or more frequently absent young people to choose home education or narrowing the curriculum through qualification options.
He added that “perhaps worst of all, and the most difficult [practice] to unpick” is where schools direct parents to another local school after telling them “we just can’t meet the need for this child”.
Mr Uttley warned that “we’ve ended up in a situation where the most vulnerable young people are the collateral damage” as schools are driven to compete against each other over P8 scores.
He added the approach to measuring school performance “undermined inclusion and damaged some of the most vulnerable young people in the country”.
Ofsted said it plans to develop a criterion for inspecting inclusion when it launches its new inspection framework next September.
Agreement needed on high-quality inclusion in schools
But Mr Uttley said there needs to be national agreement on what high-quality inclusive education looks like first, suggesting that the definition the Department for Education created last year as part of its quality descriptors for MATs could be used.
These definitions set out that a MAT with high-quality and inclusive education has “a culture in all its schools that is motivating and ambitious for all”, including for pupils who are disadvantaged or have special educational needs or disabilities.
It also said trusts should operate “fair access and welcome and effectively teach those students from the local area”.
Mr Uttley said: “According to the DfE, this applies to trusts but that standard could very easily be applied and be expected of every single school in the country. They could do it tomorrow.”
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