Chapter 2:

Educational Standards: an Overview

 
1  There has to be a clear picture of what pupils are achieving and why they are not doing better, before setting out the agenda for change. There has been tangible and valuable progress in raising levels of achievement in Wales over recent years. Schools have achieved much. Nonetheless we have let down far too many pupils by allowing them not to achieve. And we have been too complacent about average achievement, setting too low an expectation of what is possible. Our schools do well by some of the more able pupils, though they do not always stretch the best. The challenge is to lift standards substantially and for all pupils at school in Wales.
 
 
An overview

2  The progress that schools have made in Wales - and the weaknesses that have yet to be overcome - can be summarised in the following statistics. The first set represents an illustrative, not an exhaustive, list of successes:
 
 
Strengths

• Standards of teaching and learning assessed by OHMCI are now satisfactory in 85 per cent of classes and good or very good in around 40 per cent.

• Attainment, measured by statutory assessment results at 7, 11 and 14, shows improving trends in the basics of literacy and numeracy embracing English, Welsh and maths.

• The numbers of 15 year olds achieving 5 GCSE grades A*-C has improved by over 25 per cent in the last five years. Four pupils in every ten now achieve this level.

• The rolling average data show that 70 per cent of secondary schools improved their performance in the achievement of 5 A*-C grades at GCSE between 1993-95 and 1994-96.

• Taking schools and colleges together, achievement at A level and GNVQ is better than ever before. In 1996, candidates achieved the highest pass rate ever for A level entries.

• There has been an important improvement in the percentage of 15 year olds achieving GCSE grades A*-C in maths, science, and English or Welsh, in combination - up by over six percentage points since 1993.

3  These achievements are real and hard won. There have been significant gains in the provision of a broad curriculum in primary and secondary schools; in the increased numbers staying on in full-time education and gaining entry to university; and in the increasing numbers taking vocational qualifications. More pupils than ever are being entered for GCSE, A levels and vocational qualifications. A higher proportion are achieving success; and more than ever are attaining higher grades in public examinations where standards, especially since the creation of the Curriculum and Assessment Authority for Wales (ACAC), are subject to more rigorous control than at any time in the past. And yet the overall rate of progress remains slower than it should be. We still have major challenges to overcome in Wales.

• Only just over half our pupils at 11 and 14 achieve at levels expected of the majority in English and maths. The picture is similar for Welsh at 11 - though it is better at 14. Teachers, parents and the wider public cannot see this as acceptable.

• The performance of schools with the lowest 25 per cent of results from statutory assessments is also unacceptable: at 11 and 14, well over half the pupils in these schools fail to achieve the levels that are within the reach of most.

• Attainment of 5 GCSE A*-C grades still lags behind that in England by two percentage points - and standards in England lag well behind those of our international competition. Wales cannot succeed on this basis.

• The upward trend to 1994 in the proportion of pupils achieving 5 GCSEs at grades A*-G has levelled off.

• The percentage of 15 year olds entered for GCSEs in core subjects, excluding Welsh in 1996 varied from around 80 per cent in some local authorities to about 90 per cent in others. Significantly more girls were entered than boys. This is not good enough: pupils cannot achieve success in GCSE or any other qualification if they are not entered for the examinations.

• Fractionally under one in three 15 year olds achieves GCSE grades A*-C in the core subjects of maths, science and English or Welsh in combination. Only 21 of the 225 secondary schools in Wales enabled half their 15 year olds to achieve at this level in 1996. This is far too few.

• Boys are consistently falling behind girls. This disparity emerges early. At 15, and in the attainment of 5 GCSE grades A*-C, the difference amounts to 10 percentage points on average: and the gap is very much wider in some local authority areas.

• Absenteeism is running at 11 per cent in Wales compared to 8 per cent in England.

• 11 per cent of pupils leave school in Wales without any GCSEs: 8 per cent do so in England.

• Standards of teaching and learning continue to improve, but well over one lesson in 10 is unsatisfactory and just four out of 10 lessons are assessed as good, or very good by OHMCI. Standards need particular attention for pupils aged 7-9, and those aged 11-13.

• OHMCI's evidence from a recently published survey of action planning shows that not enough is being done to set testing, quantitative targets within schools.

• Employers investing in Wales see young people in the Welsh work-force as strong on commitment, flexibility and willingness to train - but weak on decision making, leadership, and educational attainment.

4  All this translates into poor levels of literacy and numeracy amongst adults as well as young people. New research by the Basic Skills Agency - The Literacy and Numeracy of People in Wales - shows that a significant number of adults aged 16-64 have limited literacy and numeracy skills. In reading, 16 per cent have low or very low skills; in numeracy, 44 per cent have low or very low skills. Some of the lowest scores were found in the youngest age group from 16-18. The research presents a stark picture of the relationship between poor basic skills, lack of qualifications and unemployment. It means that thousands are wholly ill-equipped to cope with the demands of modern society. It helps to explain why we are the poor men and women of Britain:

• Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per head in Wales is some 18 per cent lower than in England;

• average weekly earnings of full-time male, and of female, employees is 13 per cent lower than England;

• household disposable income per head is 11 per cent lower than in England.

5  These key facts show that in the past too much attention has been given to structure and too little to standards and results. The ingredients for action to impel change are essentially these:

• there must be a firm emphasis on good teaching - well planned, structured and paced, to support learning;

• clear targets for achievement must be set in primary and secondary schools;

• pupil assessment, review against targets, and feedback to parents by teachers, must be treated as central to successful schooling;

• there must be a sustained focus on effective methods of teaching literacy and numeracy for all pupils in both primary and secondary schools;

• action must be taken to deal vigorously and sensitively with poor teaching and poor school management, where it occurs;

• strong relationships within schools and with the community it serves must be built to foster good teaching and learning, and an ethos in which pupils take responsibility for their actions;

• firm action is needed to lift pupil attendance; raise standards of behaviour; enter more pupils for vocational and academic qualifications; and support effective leadership and teamwork at all levels in schools;

• schools must give more attention to developing good practice in teaching methods and to applying what works best;

• there must be better communication and dialogue with teachers in undertaking change;

• more substantial efforts must be made to involve parents in education itself, rather than in the exercise of choice alone;

• there must be deeper commitment from employers to support school improvement through more effective education-business links;

• there should be a clear strategic role for local authorities in support of educational success.