Quality | 2010.01.13
Lib Dems criticise schools policy
GCSE tables show many schools left struggling while those in inner cities have seen dramatic progress under Labour
Labour has neglected hundreds of thousands of students in "ordinary" towns across England to plough money into helping those in inner cities, the Liberal Democrats claimed today as the government published league tables of GCSE and A-level results.
The tables reveal that state schools in inner-city neighbourhoods, particularly London, have shown dramatic progress since Labour came to power. But in almost half of schools, fewer than 50% of students achieved five "good" GCSEs last summer.
In neighbourhoods such as Hackney, a deprived part of east London, the proportion of pupils who obtain five GCSEs at grades A* to C, including English and maths, has rocketed by 35.3 percentage points between 1998 and 2009. In Lambeth, south London and Islington, north London, the rise is 33.8 and 29.4 percentage points respectively.
But the tables also show that one in 13 secondary schools – 247 – failed to meet the government\'s benchmark of at least 30% of pupils achieving five A* to C grades at GCSE, including English and maths.
These schools face closure, merger or being turned into an academy within a year because the government has vowed it will bring all schools up to the benchmark by 2011. This is an improvement on the previous year, when 440 schools came under this category.
Of the 247 schools, 168 have failed to meet the 30% target two years in a row and 46 have worse results than last year.
Just under half of pupils leave secondary school without basic qualifications in science and two-thirds do not get a modern language GCSE at grade C or above, the data shows.
At a handful of schools, more than 70% of pupils left without the basic qualification of five GCSEs in any subject – a phenomenon ministers had vowed to eradicate by 2008.
More than half of state schools are falling short of a national "expected progress" target for pupils between the ages of 11 and 16. In 965 schools, fewer than half the pupils make enough progress.
David Laws, the Liberal Democrat education spokesman, said: "There certainly have been some improvements under Labour. But a lot of money has been given to London. We know that a lot of young people in disadvantaged areas are getting five good GCSEs only if they come from the \'right\' parts of the country that get lots of funding. In rural areas, there are huge numbers of disadvantaged students who don\'t get the grades. Labour has focused on big metropolitan ares. In most ordinary towns and villages, there hasn\'t been the same focus or intervention."
Michael Gove, the Tory shadow schools secretary, said: "The government has not targeted inequality carefully enough, which is why we see the gap between rich and poor pupils widening. There are far too many schools that are not making the required level of progress."
Teenagers who took their exams last summer could be the last to do so under a Labour government for several years and their results were used to judge Labour\'s success in education.
While 247 state secondary schools now have fewer than 30% of pupils achieving five good GCSEs including English and maths, in 1997 this figure was 1,600 – almost half of all schools.
In 1997, 35.9% of pupils taking GCSEs achieved five good passes including English and maths. Now 50.7% of state school pupils achieve this.
Funding for each pupil has almost doubled under Labour. In 1997, it was £2,900 and it is now £5,310.
Schools in the most deprived areas, often in inner cities, have improved the most. In schools where half or more pupils are on free school meals, the proportion obtaining five good GCSEs including English and maths has jumped from just over 10% in 1999 to almost 40% in 2009.
This summer, schools in London performed better on average than those in any other region in the country, with 54% of pupils achieving five GCSEs at grades A* to C, including English and maths. In 1997, the capital\'s schools came near the bottom with 29.9% achieving these grades.
Brian Lightman, general secretary elect of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "Labour has done a lot of good work, particularly in inner cities. They started in the inner cities because there was an enormous amount of work to do there. There are some schools which are in very low-funded areas and aren\'t in inner-city neighbourhoods that don\'t have these extra pots of funding."
Vernon Coaker, the schools minister, said: "The state has a role in challenging areas where there is concern in attainment. We know that there is still more to do and we are going to do it.
"A decade ago, just 35% of children left school with five good GCSEs including English and maths, now with our best results ever it\'s 49.8% for all schools. In fact, the average school performance in 1997 is now roughly where we put the absolute bottom benchmark expected. This hasn\'t happened by chance."
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jan/13/gcse-league-tables-labour
