Stats not how you do it...

16th November 2018, 12:00am
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Stats not how you do it...

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archived/stats-not-how-you-do-it

“X per cent of pupils to achieve age-related expectations”

“X per cent of children to make accelerated progress”

Sound familiar? You’ll probably have targets like these burned into your brains. It’s also likely that a pay rise is dependent on whether you meet them or not.

Are you a better teacher for having been set them? No, says one deputy head in the north of England.

Here’s everything that’s wrong with the practice of setting data targets:

  1. The purpose is unclear: are they developmental? Or is the aim to ensure good results?
     
  2. It doesn’t help teachers to grow professionally. What can you learn from a set of targets while waiting for a review meeting? Not much.
     
  3. It doesn’t help the teacher to get the kids to achieve.
     
  4. It can encourage cheating - teachers are a trustworthy bunch, but the threat of failing performance management can encourage grade inflation.
     
  5. It assumes there are no other influencing factors on children’s achievement.
     
  6. Nerves and unfamiliar formats don’t always lead to the best results - should they really be the basis of whether or not a teacher passes their performance management?
     
  7. It doesn’t focus on what really makes the difference - it’s actions, not the targets that have an impact on learning outcomes.
     
  8. It’s a short-sighted view of what is measurable.
     
  9. SLT are absolved of responsibility. Leaders are paid to shoulder accountability - performance management should reflect this.
     
  10. They drive teachers to leave the classroom for good.

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