pupil data | Schools Week

How should we define ‘disadvantaged’ pupils?

Separating pupils into those who qualify for free schools meals and those who don’t does little to highlight the more nuanced and complex picture in relation to attainment outcomes for different pupils, says Sameena Choudry. The Social Mobility Commission (SMC) research Ethnicity, Gender and Social Mobility, carried out in partnership with LKMCo and Education Datalab […]

‘Refuse, retract, resist’ school nationality data collection

Parents can choose not to be complicit in building border controls in our playgrounds – and so can schools, says Martha Spurrier. The spring school census started this week. For the second time this academic year, parents and guardians have been asked to share their children’s nationalities and countries of birth with the state – […]

DfE had agreement to share pupil nationality data with Home Office

The Department for Education (DfE) did have an agreement in place to share pupil nationality data with the Home Office for immigration purposes, Schools Week can exclusively reveal. However, documents finally seen by the paper after a several month freedom of information battle, show the policy has been overturned and no nationality information about any pupil […]

Primary school key stage 2 performance tables: 8 key progress findings

Pupils in primary schools across the country vary in their progress – under the government’s new value-added measure – in some kinds of schools than others, government data released today shows. Those in faith schools perform marginally better, with Jewish schools leading the way, than pupils in non-religious schools on average. Pupils in sponsored and […]

PISA 2015: Achievement gap between top and bottom pupils equivalent to 8 years’ schooling

The gap in achievement between 15-year-old pupils in England in key subjects is one of the largest and most unequal among developed countries, a release of international test data showed. But a government report on the results of the tests taken last year by over 5,000 pupils across the country, plays down the importance of […]

Wilshaw: I would have refused pupil immigration checks as head

The collection of pupil nationality and country of birth data by schools is a “daft idea”, Sir Michael Wilshaw has said, indicating that he would have refused to carry out immigration checks on pupils when he was a headteacher. The outgoing chief inspector of Ofsted gave his view on recent disclosures that Theresa May wanted teachers to […]

Based on data, I believed I would never succeed

Data can inform starting points but should never be used to cap expectations of learners, says Jaz Ampaw-Farr. “Based on data, I believed I would never succeed.” As a child my trajectory was pretty bleak. On paper I was a disadvantaged, female, looked-after child on free school meals with an ethnic background of “other (please […]

We need to document a child’s progress from birth to age 5

Those against data collection in early years are missing the point, says Jan Dubiel. How else will early years’ practitioners know how they (and the child) are doing? The appropriateness and value of collecting data on children has been hotly debated over the past couple of years, sparked in part by the introduction of baseline […]