Schools to be held accountable for pupils' career success

Proportion of students in work to be revealed, but heads fear plans may lead to another league table
Michael Gove
Michael Gove says schools should be held accountable through 'destination data'. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Schools will be held accountable for the career success of their pupils under a government plan to publish information about the proportion who go on to university or get jobs after they leave.

The plan is part of a strategy to increase pressure on schools to deliver good outcomes for pupils. Ministers are concerned that schools have entered pupils for qualifications that boost their standing in league tables, but do not help young people get into a good university or secure a well-paid job.

A clause in the education bill currently going through parliament will allow the government to match details from the national pupil database with another run by councils that holds information on 13- to 19-year-olds. The council database, known as the client caseload information system, is currently used to track progress on measures such as cutting the number of teenagers living on benefits.

The government intends to use the new power under the bill to generate "destination data" about what pupils do after they leave school or college.

The education secretary, Michael Gove, said: "If we are serious about holding schools to account, we need to develop a much sharper focus on what happens to pupils as they move through school, as well as after they leave.

"Publishing information about what pupils do after their GCSEs will tell parents how good their local school is at encouraging pupils to stay in education or training.

"And post-18 destination data – which tells us if pupils are moving into good university courses, high-quality apprenticeships, or satisfying jobs – will give parents real-world information about how well schools are preparing young people for a fulfilling future." Pilot projects will begin in selected areas next year if the education bill is passed.

But headteachers are concerned that the data could become a new yardstick against which parents will judge schools.

Russell Hoby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "The data is useful. Every school should know where its students go and what happens to them, but if it does then become an accountability measure you're holding heads responsible for things largely outside their control.

"Of course, how well children are educated affects their employment prospects, but there are other factors like the local economy, funding for higher education – are you going to blame headteachers for all these variables?"

Government sources point to the success of Mossbourne academy in Hackney, east London, as an example of what schools with challenging intakes can achieve. This year 10 sixth-formers at the school, which is in one of the poorest areas of the country, were offered places at Cambridge.

Schools were accused of failing to prepare students for the workplace when just 15.6% of pupils achieved the new "English baccalaureate" of five good GCSEs in academic subjects, when the measure was included in league tables this year for the first time.

Less than 4% of pupils on free school meals are thought to have achieved the English bac.

The Scottish government already publishes information on destinations, which is broken down by local authority, but not detailed at school level.

The latest Scottish data, for the school year 2008/09, showed that the proportion of those entering further or higher education had risen to nearly 62% from nearly 56% in the previous year, a record high. The figures also showed that the proportion who were unemployed had risen slightly.

Northern Ireland publishes school-leavers' destination data for the province as a whole. The latest figures, for 2008/09, also showed a record proportion of pupils going on to higher education.

Christine Blower, general secretary of the NUT said: "I cannot see what relevance this information would be to government, except to use as yet another measure against which to judge schools. What pupils go on to do after leaving school can depend greatly on the area they live in and the employment opportunities it offers.

"One thing is certain; the raising of tuition fees by the coalition government will ensure that there will be far fewer pupils leaving sixth-forms to go on to university.".