Our education performance
Statistics show how large gaps in the performance of schools – often in the same category – are holding back many children. A strong emphasis on improvement is needed to drive up standards for all pupils.
Two neighbouring schools with similar governance structures are separated by a 60 per cent gap in how their pupils perform at GCSE level. The same pattern is repeated several times across Northern Ireland, according to research by Queen’s University Belfast Professor of Education Tony Gallagher.
The key indicator for GCSE performance is achieving five subjects between grades A* and C, including English and maths. Stark contrasts appear when that attainment is correlated against entitlement to free school meals.
As expected, the 80-100 per cent pass rates are concentrated in high income areas. Another, looser cluster (25-50 per cent) is found in middle income areas although these also have some very low performing schools – including one with no pupils reaching that standard and 10 with single figure percentages. The inequalities reflect differing performances between Catholic maintained and state-controlled schools, and the recurring problem of low attainment among working class Protestant boys. Pupils from a Protestant background account for 76 per cent of pupils attending controlled grammars and 82 per cent of pupils attending controlled non-grammars.
Pointing to the trend lines for non-grammar schools, Gallagher explains: “What these showed is that while the level of social disadvantage is very much higher for Catholic schools, there is a performance gap between the school types to the advantage of Catholic schools that widens as the level of social disadvantage increases.”
Across all categories of grammar schools, more than 90 per cent of boys and girls achieve five GCSE passes.
In the non-grammars, the highest performers are girls in Catholic maintained schools (48 per cent) and the lowest are boys in controlled schools
(26 per cent). Grant-maintained integrated schools tend to perform better than controlled integrated schools.
The Department of Education’s statistics, on which the research is based, also cover the destinations of pupils after they leave school at the ages of 16 or 18.
A large majority of grammar school leavers (73 per cent) go directly into higher education and one in five enters further education (19 per cent). The destinations of non-grammar school leavers are more varied with further education being the main option (46 per cent) followed by higher education (20 per cent), training (18 per cent) and employment (8 per cent).
Higher and further education are equally popular among boys while higher education is increasingly female-dominated with 49 per cent of girls choosing that route. Training is twice as popular among boys compared to girls, a trend closely related to male entry into further education.
Tony Gallagher comments that those figures “highlight once again the wide gender gaps in performance in education.” They also highlight the “relatively small number of school leavers who go straight into the labour market.”
Speaking at agendaNi’s Public Sector Reform Conference, he stated that the variance in outcomes is still far too wide.
Northern Ireland also trains “too many teachers in too many places and too many are never employed.”
The leading countries choose teachers from the most talented pupils, train them extensively, promote collaboration within and between schools, and give teachers the necessary external support.
This strategy is underpinned by a strong welfare state.
A good education system also needs an effective organisational structure.
Local politicians appeared to be “unable or unwilling” to settle the debate over academic selection, and there was far too much emphasis on performance management and accountability.
An improved system would recognise the professionalism of teachers, advising them on interventions that work effectively.
It would make it a priority to reduce achievement gaps, and concentrate resources until significant progress is achieved.
