Reflections: Inaccurate School League tables
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| Author: Patrick Crozier |
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James Bartholomew picks up on the story that schools are improving their GCSE scores by getting pupils to take easier GCSEs, hence getting themselves higher up the league tables.
My take:
- This is just typical. The state is forever massaging the figures
- This is a fudge on top of an existing fudge. Government exams have been getting easier for a long time
- Mind you, you always have to be careful about what the statistics are measuring in the first place. GCSEs are not necessarily a good thing
- If it were up to me I'd scrap GCSEs, the statistics and state education
Q&A
The state "forever massaging the figures". Any examples?
- Well, there's National Rail's £20bn government guarantee which doesn't appear on the government's balance sheet; NHS waiting lists where there is a waiting list for the waiting list; and, the area the term "massaging" was first used (by Shirley Williams, if memory serves) - the unemployment figures
So, what's the story with the unemployment figures?
- In the early 1980s when the unemployment figures were hitting the roof, the Thatcher government stopped counting certain sorts of claimants. These included men over the age of 60 and people on training schemes.
So, why all the massaging?
- Because the state doesn't like admitting to its failures
What makes you think that exams have been getting easier?
GCSEs not necessarily a good thing?
- Yes, a GCSE costs (the pupil) time and effort. That time and effort could have been spent on something else. Something, perhaps, more valuable. That does not mean I am in some way against education. For the vast majority of people reading, writing and arithmetic are well worth the effort. But not for everyone. Pete Waterman (of pop music fame) only learned to read long after he had become successful. It doesn't seem to have done him a great deal of harm.
But who should decide?
- I am not quite sure. Well, I am in one respect: it shouldn't be the state. But whether it should be parents or children I am not quite sure.
Scrapping GCSEs, how would that work?
- Well, scrapping exams run by the government. Hmm...is that absolutely true? I think it is more that the government only allows schools to set examinations from certain examination boards. But I digress. If government exams were abolished tomorrow that would create a market for examinations. New players would enter the newly-created market offering the sorts of examinations that people want.
Hang about, but it's only schools that are banned. Why doesn't someone else set exams?
- Hmm, dunno. Maybe, there's a gap in the market. Or maybe, this is an example of "crowding out"
What is crowding out?
- Crowding out is where a state enterprise, by virtue of its subsidized (or other advantage it gains from its creature of the state) nature forces all other competitors out of the market. An example of this in action is the way friendly societies went out of business when the Welfare State was set up. Who was going to contribute to a mutual fund when they could get the same benefits for free? It is possible that GCSEs (which have the advantages of being free at the point of use) aren't yet quite so bad that it has become worth it for someone to offer an alternative
But how would you ensure quality? What is there to prevent companies selling exams in much the same way some sell university degrees?
- In much the same way that quality is ensured in industries as diverse as food retailing and automobiles: branding
But, how does that work?
- Simple, Tesco, for instance, put their name on a product. If it is later found that the product, to take an extreme example, kills their customers, then news will get round and their reputation (and hence their brand) will be tarnished. So fewer people will shop in their stores and their profits will fall
OK, but how would that work with exams?
- In much the same way. CrozierQual goes into the exam business. It sets the papers, arranges the invigilation and gets the papers marked. It charges a fee for this and makes lots of money. Now, imagine what happens if it starts to dilute the quality in order to sell more examinations and make even more money. People will start to notice. CrozierQual will get a reputation as an unreliable supplier of exams. That will create a gap in the market for alternative suppliers and ultimately hit profits. So, CrozierQual has to be careful to maintain quality
Any examples of private examinations?
- I think there is an exam for Microsoft engineers. Surely, there must be some others
You'd scrap the statistics, too?
- Well, the government statistics.
But, how would people know which schools were good and which were not?
- The schools would have every incentive to provide that information themselves. If they didn't then potential customers would ask themselves why this information was being withheld. Much the same applies to automobiles where manufacturers tend to supply a basic set of statistics about their cars
Comments
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