Headteachers have recently claimed that schools situated in areas identified as white working-class in the UK are presently being destroyed by the league table systems in the country. It is believed that rankings are stigmatising these secondary schools that were subjected to new criteria in terms of ranking their pupil achievement back in 2017.

New parameters were added to the league table format to accommodate the judging of pupil achievement. This was during the heavy alteration on its format in January of last year. Considerable criticisms were hurled against the changes especially from head teachers. The likes of Peter Gale Headteacher, an education professional himself with 20 years of experience in the field agree that that the present format is toxic. This makes those white communities that are disenfranchised to get stigmatised in the process. These schools traditionally have the poorest results in terms of academics in the country. The new parameters will only cause these schools to be more disillusioned in light of them being unfairly balanced. 

Statistics reveal that only 24% of white schoolboys in Britain achieve five A* to Cs at the end of school exams for secondary level. This includes Maths and English. Some have stated that if this is something that has been done on any ethnic group that is sitting at the bottom, people are likely going to end up becoming unsettled. However, it tends to become less controversial somehow because what is involved here are the white working-class.

While there are those that have stated how the changes that were being introduced to the league-table were welcome initially, the emerging patterns show that there may be a need for a second look at the provisions. It is also being expected that talks with the DfE will have to be carried out if they are to resolve this.

Until last year, the performance of secondary schools used to be judged mainly through the proportion of the students that can achieve five GCSEs for grades A* to C, with Maths and English included. However, the two measures that were recently adopted, which are referred to as progress 8 and Attainment 8, which are supposed to help get the rankings be fairer, seem to be doing the opposite.

The introduction of Progress 8 is aimed are measuring how well schools are serving the pupils by assessing where the students have started and where they have ended up. This is done by looking at their attainments in 8 GCSE or other equivalent subjects from grades A* to G for every pupil. The results will then be compared against other pupils’ results that entered secondary schools on the national level who belong to the same attainment levels. The maximum points for every school are at 80 points for every pupil. Across all state secondary schools in the country, the national average this year is at 49.9.

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The Department of Education has seen an increase in the number of underperforming schools across the country. However, it has been revealed too that some of these schools have received outstanding Ofsted ratings. There are officials who stated that this increase may be due to the technical changes in the points system with which school rates are being based on.

A number of secondary schools all over England have been tagged as underperforming. Data shows that one in every eight school has been performing below the new minimum standard that the government has set. According to the DfE, 12% or 365 secondary schools in the country last year which are considered as mainstream were unable to reach the floor standard. Compared to the 282 or 9.3% last 2016, the figures seriously indicate an upward trend. The highest proportion of schools that are considered below standards came from the north-east of the country.

The data also shows that those pupils who happen to speak English not as a mother tongue, but only as an additional language, have been outperforming those that are native speakers. This was evident at the GCSE. In addition, the attainment gap between the poor and the rich, while it may still hold some significance, has been increasingly narrowing as well.

According to officials, this rise in the number of schools that have been underperforming may be due to how the points system that is used in calculating a school’s performance has changed. However, this is going to be little comfort to the head teachers. Secondary schools will feel the pressure this year as the increase in the number of schools that have been judged as failing will mean reforms to the GCSEs.

Also, the fact that six out of the 365 schools that were considered as below standard were even rated as outstanding by Ofsted, the school watchdog. With three of these schools being grammar schools will only further add more confusion on how this could have happened. Ministers were quite keen to welcome the progress when it comes to the attainment gap between those students that are disadvantaged and those that are wealthier. The number has narrowed down from 2016 by 3.2%. Achievement and entry for the EBacc have fallen, while it also shows that more pupils who are disadvantaged have been taking subjects under EBacc and are actually getting good grades.

The data also revealed a very notable geographical divide in terms of educational progress. One in every five schools in the north-west and the north-east of the country are falling below floor standards. This is compared to London’s statistics which is at 6.9%- the lowest proportion in terms of underperforming schools. In the southwest schools that are below floor standard are at 16.2% and the east has recorded 7.4%. Meanwhile, Yorkshire has a 7.6% record.