A WIDER range of qualifications is to be recognised in the secondary performance tables, under plans being drawn up by the Government.
A pilot project this year will collect data on pupils’ achievements in all approved qualifications, not just GCSEs, GNVQs and A-levels.
To carry out the pilot, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority has come up with a provisional point score for each qualification. For example, an A* GCSE gets 58 points and a City and Guilds progression award in bakery gets 230 points.
The schools taking part in the pilot project will have a second table - published later than the main table - which shows the change in their average point score and in value-added measures when all approved qualifications are taken into account.
Ministers intend to produce unpublished “shadow” tables for all schools and local education authorities showing how they perform under the new scoring system, although these may not be able to include all qualifications taken.
The information will be passed on to schools and authorities to enable them to evaluate how such a system would affect their rankings.
