Councillors debate over secondary schools 'league table'

The table, which shows the percentage of school leavers from each local secondary school who obtained five or more Higher passes graded from A to C, was produced ahead of Wednesday's [June 26] meeting after a question was brought forward by Conservative councillor Tom Marshall.

Cllr Marshall questioned Cllr Shaun Macaulay's previous data on school leavers which was brought to Cabinet at an earlier date.

This report stated: "North Ayrshire Council Education Directorate Data Team sends all nine secondary schools their Insight Analytical Data set each year which empowers schools to inspect their leavers’ data at a learner level Tariff score."

Cllr Marshall claimed that not only were the terms difficult to understand, they were not a recognised measure of performance.

He added: "The number of Highers achieved is a recognisable measure of performance , can the member report the percentage of pupils achieving five Higher passes in each of our Secondary Schools in the last academic year."

As a result, a table was produced for each secondary school in the county.

This showed that the percentage of North Ayrshire school leavers in session 2022-23 who achieved five or more Highers was 23 per cent.

This peaked at Arran High School where 36 per cent of leavers achieved five or more Highers, while the lowest number came from Irvine Royal Academy where nine per cent of school leavers achieved this feat.

Figures elsewhere were: Largs Academy - 35 per cent; St Matthew's Academy - 28 per cent; Kilwinning Academy - 25 per cent; Garnock Community Campus - 23 per cent; Ardrossan Academy - 21 per cent; Greenwood Academy - 19 per cent; and Auchenharvie Academy - 11 per cent.

The 'league table' produced for the meeting. (Image: NAC)

Replying, Cllr Macaulay said: "It should be noted that this is only one measure of attainment, and that Highers are also not the only SCQF Level 6 qualification.

"As such, we are expanding our range of qualifications at all levels to ensure they cater for a broad range of skills and aspirations.

"The Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF) reports overall qualifications achieved at SCQF Level 6.

"Using this indicator, 35 per cent of North Ayrshire’s pupils gained five or more Awards, which is higher than the LGBF Family Group average of 32 per cent."

Cllr Marshall continued to question why these figures were not produced for cabinet in the first instance.

Cllr Macaulay advised that he does not believe league tables are a fair way to assess children’s educational attainment.