School Accountability

NCPTA gives parents the opportunity to express their views on school accountability

How school performance is measured and how schools are held accountable for this performance remains highly controversial.  Many parties to this debate claim to speak on behalf of parents or to have the support of parents.

The Children, Schools and Families Select Committee has examined these two key issues in response to the Government’s proposal to introduce a school report card system.  This aims to assess school performance on a wider range of criteria than is currently achieved through the school league tables. 

NCPTA appeared before the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee on 29 April 2009 to represent the views of parents.  In anticipation of this, an online survey of members was conducted to provide fresh and robust evidence.  

A total of 2,224 responses were received with the overwhelming majority of parents agreeing that it is important for parents to know how well each school performs (96%).  Parents are also keen to be able to compare one school against another (87%) and specifically want to be able to compare the performance of like schools (90%). 

Parents also agree that test and exam results are one important measure of a school’s performance (78%) and that these should be published or made publicly available (75%).  However, parents want test and exam results to be part of a wider range of information used to assess school performance (96%).  In terms of how parents want this information made available to them they show a preference for individual scores for each measure used as well as an overall score summarising the school’s performance (56%).

The survey found that Ofsted Inspections are valued by the majority of parents (78%) but they would like to move from schools being given two days notice of inspections as currently happens to their having no notice (61%).

Parents were asked specifically if they agree or disagree with plans by teachers and headteachers to boycott the public exams held at the end of primary school (Key Stage 2 SATS) in order to get them withdrawn.  Parents are almost equally divided between those that support the boycott and those that disagree with it.  There is also a large number that neither agree nor disagree.  The NCPTA would therefore suggest that there is no clear parental view and that none of the protagonists in the dispute should claim to have the support of parents.