Penalising independent schools is not the solution to education inequality

AQA recently announced a scheme to rank all A-level students according to which school they attend, aimed at exposing potential in students from underachieving schools. Or, to put it another way, AQA have today announced a scheme to penalise students from independent schools. Under the system, students from low-performing comprehensives in disadvantaged areas would be entitled to A-level ‘bonus points’ for their school’s ranking, whereas a student from a top performing independent with no students on free school meals would be penalised for the average success of their school.

In theory, the scheme sounds promising; a leveling of potential regardless of achievement. In practice attributing bonus points for underperforming schools and penalty points for top ones is fraught with danger. As Professor Alan Smithers from the University of Buckingham has stated, “There must be concerns about the ranking the candidates are awarded. The possibility for errors are enormous.”

The scheme has come about in the light of worrying A-level statistics; private schools attained 30% of all A/A* passes this year despite being only 13.4% of entries, and 18.1% of independent school papers were marked A* in comparison to 5.9% in comprehensives. But rather than this being taken as evidence that teaching standards in comprehensives need to be addressed, it seems that the problem is being allowed to persist in what is essentially an apology system for lax standards of teaching.

This system disadvantages students whose parents have the money to send them to a private school, rather than discerning potential. Ironically, it could harm the chances of children on scholarships to private schools. Academic achievement must be assessed on absolute rather than relative terms and learning environments improved accordingly, not goalposts shifted.

This is clearly evident in the Mossbourne Academy; a comprehensive in Hackney. Despite being from an ‘underprivileged’ area with 40% of students on free school meals, high standards of education and discipline have seen 85% of GCSEs marked A*-C, seven students gain places at Cambridge, one student turning down the world’s number-one ranking university to attend the Royal College of Music, and almost all other students claiming places at universities. The academy has received huge amounts of government support, but there is no reason that this blueprint could not be replicated in other schools. The headmaster Sir Michael Wilshaw, tipped to be given a high-ranking job at Ofsted, claims that discipline and teaching standards are the key to the school’s success; detentions are issued without 24-hours’ notice, large amounts of homework given and ability streaming in classes upheld. This is a more positive approach - giving opportunities to disadvantaged children rather than penalising those from independent schools.

Schemes such as graduate programmes encouraging specialists to teach at local schools, even if part-time or for only a year, could go a long way towards improving a student’s enthusiasm for a subject. The class divide will worsen if left to rely on a points system that seeks to compensate for poor teaching. The Telegraph has published statistics showing that bright sixth-formers from state schools are not recommended for Oxbridge entry due to teachers’ misconceptions about the admissions systems. The Oxford admissions team already does exemplary work in encouraging applications from comprehensives but without the support from state teachers these efforts can only go so far. Not even a penalisation system can compensate for applications that are never made.

Top universities already have to turn down students with straight A grades from all backgrounds even before the grade net is widened. To reflect this, Oxford already run their own comparative tests that judge the students’ grades against their school average as opposed to offering arbitrary plus or minus points to every student from one school measured against another school. This gives a far more accurate impression of an individual’s achievement when set against the background of the rest of the application; if universities want a comparative process this system is fairer, measuring the individual against the standards of their peers rather than according to the net worth of their parents.