Richard Garner: Why the tables should be in another league

It seems faintly ridiculous to be publishing league tables of last year's A-level results when this year's students are cramming in the facts for the final revision stages of this summer's exams. The reasons for the delay have been well rehearsed. The furore over last year's grades led to thousands of papers having to be rechecked, so the data was simply not ready to compile the tables.

Of course, publishing the results in April is too late to help parents to decide on a school for their children this September – though many will scan them for information that may be of use next year. The importance of this year's league tables – and the information they contain – can be questioned in another way. That is because there is a growing debate over whether they will continue to be meaningful in their present form.

Last week, Mike Tomlinson, the former chief inspector of schools and the man in charge of the Government's review of education for 14- to 19-year-olds, said that in future school-leavers may not be the product of just one institution. We are already seeing that trend, but he believes it could become more widespread. Youngsters might mix and match between a school and a college for their education. In addition they may belong to a school that is part of a federation or cluster, and have some lessons in different specialist schools within the cluster. In that case, which school should be entitled to claim credit for the pupil's performance?

Tomlinson's speech was followed by a policy document from the Secondary Heads Association recommending the abolition of national league tables and replacing them with schools being made to publish their exam results with value-added information. That means the data would arguably be more useful because it would contrast pupils' performance with the ability they showed when they arrived at school.

It has always been questionable whether a parent living in, say, Doncaster needs to know how schools are performing in Ascot. For that reason, I have always wondered about the value of national league tables. The exception is parents who opt for an independent school where boarding can be an option. They may want to see the national picture. But the independent sector publishes its own league tables, so they are already catered for.

I do not agree with the Secondary Heads Association that the obligation to publish results should rest with schools. It would be better if it rested with local education authorities, because that would mean that parents could compare all the schools in their area without having to rush around collecting the exam results of individual schools.

Much more thought needs to be given to the presentation of value-added information. The first attempt – in the recent GCSE league tables – was risible. It gave two indicators – value added between 11 and 14 and, separately, between 14 and 16. It was possible for a school to do badly on the first measure so that it looked good on the second – and vice versa. That was not much use to parents.

The writer is Education editor of 'The Independent'