For relocating parents finding the right school can be a major concern, consequently parents often look to the government’s performance league tables to help them in their search. However, the tables have been criticised over the years for lacking detail and for being too crude a measure of results. In response to this, the government has released new data, allowing parents a detailed view of the GCSE performance of every single secondary school in England.

Following the publication of the secondary school league tables in January 2011, new data has been released by the Department for Education which provides parents with information on the performance of schools in each specific GCSE subject. The move comes as part of an overhaul of league tables designed to give parents a more accurate picture of school standards.

Until now, the secondary school league tables have shown the proportion achieving five A*-C GCSEs or equivalent qualifications, such as BTECs and GNVQs – which are converted into GCSE points to give a comparable score. Parents are now able to exclude these equivalent qualifications using the new data and take a closer look at results in, what some might consider, the more traditional academic subjects.  

Alongside this more detailed information, Education Secretary, Michael Gove has introduced the English Baccalaureate (E Bacc) as a performance measure. The E Bacc is not a qualification in itself, but recognises where pupils have achieved good grades across core academic subjects: A*- C in five core subjects - maths, English, two science qualifications, a foreign language and either history or geography. Parents are able to see the number and proportion of students in schools taking each component of the E Bacc. One of the E Bacc’s main aims is to bring standards in line with other high-performing countries.

Mr Gove said, “Parents have been desperate for more information on schools but too little has been available in the past. By publishing all this data we are giving parents the ability to choose the right school for their child.”

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