BOG STANDARD COMPREHENSIVES? A parent’s examination of the academic (GCSE/IGCSE) achievements of the Isle of Man’s Secondary Schools 2016-2018 In June 2014, Sir Michael Wilshaw (then HM Chief Inspector of Schools) addressed the Festival of Education and warned that hundreds of thousands of pupils were being let down by bog standard comprehensive schools. He pointed to an association between mixed ability teaching and the sins of “mediocrity, laxity and failure1.” The phrase “bog standard comprehensive” was conceived not by a Prime Minister, Secretary of State for Education or Head of Ofsted but by Tony Blair’s aide and the then Labour Party Director of Communications Alistair Campbell when, in 2001, he declared “the day of the bog standard comprehensive is over.” According to this 2009 Guardian article2 “the Blair government's analysis was that comprehensives failed to cater to individual abilities, and an election-friendly promise was made to offer choice to parents and a tailored education to children”. The Education Act 20013 states (Section 24) that it is the duty of the parent of every child of compulsory school education to cause him to receive a “suitable education”. Suitable education is explicitly defined as “efficient full time education suitable to his age, ability and aptitude and any special education needs he may have.” Whilst of course the IOM is separate from the UK Sir Michael’s observations raises the question about standards in the Island’s comprehensive system. As with primary schools, parents on Island have (with a few exceptions) no choice as to which secondary school their children can attend. Can they expect uniform (or near uniform) standards or will some be required to accept what they may well deem to be second best or even third rate? Which academic Departments in schools are performing well and which have room for improvement? The author has, through a succession of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and analysis of responses to IOM parliamentary questions analysed the performance data in relation to the vast majority of GCSE/IGCSE examinations undertaken at the Island’s state secondary schools. This document contains key information, for parents, students and others regarding academic results including: A breakdown of the vast majority of GCSE/IGCSE results by subject and consequent ranking position for a rolling three-year period - 2016-18 inclusive (pages 40-69); An examination and analysis of the “value added” by the each of the Island’s Secondary schools. How much progress has been made by pupils from the beginning of Year 7 to the end of Year 11? (pages 20-25); Related to the value added performance measure, a look at whether Island schools are “gaming the system” by focussing on D/C borderline pupils in order to meet the DESCs key GCSE performance measure (pages 27-29); The “view” from King William’s College (KWC) with their “direct” comparison of KWC GCSE results with those of the Island’s state sector (pages 15-18); 1 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/secondaryeducation/10914773/A-comprehensive-failure-in-state- education.html 2 https://www.theguardian.com/education/2009/dec/08/education-policy-schools-labour 3 https://www.gov.im/media/37969/educationact2001.pdf 1 Data relating to the comparative performance of KS4 pupils in Wales and Northern Ireland both of which use the same key performance metric as the IOM (the percentage of pupils gaining 5 GCSEs at A*-C, including English and maths (pages 11 & 14-15); Contextual data – variations in examination boards between schools, FSM, EAL and SEN populations etc (pages 19-20); A look at the decision to switch the GCSE maths exam board from 2019 with some frank extracts from e-mails and presentations regarding the impact on pupils and enlightening information on the varying extent of exam grade boundaries and the reading ages required to access certain GCSEs. This particular FOI response also shows that at least one Headteacher has ongoing “serious concerns about science, business studies and the whole exam set up” (pages 29-35). Given the Government’s desire to grow the economically active segment of the Island’s population the author hopes this article will be an informative, valuable and enlightening read for parents seeking possible relocation to the jurisdiction as well, of course, to Island residents. Guidance currently available for those exploring the possibility of moving to the Island as published by the Department of Education, Sport & Culture (DESC) is limited and in the author’s opinion, of minimal value.4 This is the third article the author has written on IOM school performance and the first to concentrate on the Island’s secondary schools. The first two articles focused on the performance of the Island’s 32 primary schools. The initial paper League Tables and Benchmarking Pupil Attainment5 was published on the Positive Action Group’s (PAG) website in March 2018 and examined comparisons (albeit with caveats) with England up to 2015 when both jurisdictions had a similar performance management regime together with detailed IOM KS2 L5(+) attainment for 2017. For the first time IOM primary school pupil performance data was put into the public domain, despite resistance from the DESC. It was followed (December 2018) by a second and more comprehensive paper The Great IoM Primary School League Table Postcode Lottery6 which addressed Year 6 KS2 academic attainment at Level 5(+) for each primary school over the period 2014-18, together with the EYFS (Reception Class) results for the last two years. Cumulatively, as at 5th May 2019, these two papers have had over 12,500 downloads and attracted press and other media coverage notably by the BBC regional programme North West tonight. Readers may be interested to note that the author personally e-mailed a link to a copy of his second (Primary School Postcode Lottery) article to each MHK, voting MLC and members of the Education Council listed on this website7 (except the individual due to retire at Christmas 2018 (Mr Cole) and the two Council members most recently appointed and not listed on the site at the time the author accessed it – Mr Downie and Mrs Simpson). To date brief courtesy acknowledgements have been received from the following MHKs and MLCs – Dr Allinson (Ramsey), Mr Baker (Ayre & Michael), Mrs Caine (Garff), Mr Cannan (Ayre & Michael), Mrs Edge (Onchan), Mrs Lord-Brennan (MLC), Mr Moorhouse (Arbory Castletown & 4 https://www.gov.im/about-the-government/departments/education-sport-and-culture/information-for-parents- relocating-to-the-island/ 5 http://www.positiveactiongroup.org/index.php?option=com_attachments&task=download&id=214 6 http://www.positiveactiongroup.org/index.php?option=com_attachments&task=download&id=223 7 https://www.gov.im/about-the-government/departments/education-sport-and-culture/education-council/ 2 Malew), Mr Thomas (Douglas West), Mr Watterson (Rushen) and two Education Council members. Unsurprisingly, no response was received from any political member of the DESC (Graham Creegen MHK, Lawrie Hooper MHK, Anne Corlett MHK and Marleen Madora Maska MLC) neither has any DESC officer personally sought to engage with the author in this process despite there obviously being, at the very least judging by the download data and extensive feedback received, a passing interest from parents and other stakeholders. Of those MHKs/MLCs/Education Council Members only one has, in the author’s opinion, engaged in any meaningful way with him. Why GCSEs and why Grades A*-C? The Island’s Secondary schools offer students a variety of qualifications (GCSE, IGCSE, BTEC etc). This article is limited to GCSE/IGCSE – the dominant examination sat by Year 11 students. To maintain some form of brevity, results data from some GCSEs are omitted, for example, those only offered by one school (e.g. GCSE Manx). Data on these and other qualifications such as the BTEC is available from the responses posted on the FOI Disclosure Log8 should readers wish to analyse respective school performance regarding these. The analysis and tables which follow for the various GCSE subjects focus on attainment at grades A*-C – what is deemed a Level 2 qualification. GCSE Grades D-G are classed as Level 1 qualifications. Grades C and above are a pre-requisite for 6th form entry. For example, CRHS in their 2019 Key Stage 5 Options Booklet9 state that to join that school’s Sixth Form students need 5 or more GCSEs (or Level 2 equivalents) at A*-C including English language and mathematics and (importantly) the right skills and behaviour to success at post 16 study. (N.B. CRHS will allow 4 GCSEs at A*-C including English language or mathematics in what they deem to be exceptional circumstances). Notwithstanding the requirements for C grades to progress to A Level studies some subjects at this level have specific requirements. Again, CRHS cite that for A Level mathematics and French each require a B grade in the relevant GCSE, economics requires a B grade in maths, psychology a B grade in English language and for the sciences B grades are strongly recommended. Interestingly the GCSE requirements for entry to the IOM Civil Service (at Administrative Officer, Executive Officer, Secretary, Senior Secretary and Personal Secretary grades) have been downgraded (some may say dumbed down) from essential to desirable. One wonders what newly qualified and junior teachers make of that given the comparative salary ranges and the respective qualifications required between them and a newly appointed IOM Government Executive Officer whose starting salary is in excess of £32,000 per annum.10 Performance Measures in England & Northern Ireland England introduced a new secondary school accountability system in 2016 when the traditional 5 GCSEs at A*-C (including English and maths) performance measure was discontinued.