Do Sussex school league tables have any real value for us?

Where schools rank in the tables is important for future intakes, especially for independent schools, and is taken seriously by many.

But as institutions begin to offer students more choice in their learning, some headteachers have criticised the way the tables are created and others are starting to boycott them completely.

Here, two headteachers give their views for and against the value of league tables.

Peter Green has been the headmaster of Ardingly College for two years.

In 2000, the school introduced the International Baccalaureate (IB) qualification, which 50% of its students choose to follow instead of A-levels.

Mr Green believes the different ways in which league tables rank schools provide conflicting interpretations for parents.

WHAT is the value of league tables? I am the headmaster of a fine independent school, but I am sceptical.

I listen to those who insist they offer transparency, but I ask how this is possible when there is so much scope for conflicting interpretation.

For instance, last year my school was placed seventh in the UK in The Independent newspaper, which used UCAS points per candidate.

We were placed 193rd in the Daily Telegraph, while in The Times we were in the IB-only table, unfortunate since half our sixth form study for A-levels.

We were not even included in the FT's school tables because we were wrongly listed as a league table rebel.

This year our cohort of A-level students achieved well but many of our top students chose to study the International Baccalaureate.

Some of our IB students achieved top marks in seven subjects, rather than the required six, and gained 50 points instead of the theoretical maximum of 45, but the seventh subject will not be counted in the league tables because such information is not considered valid.

Yet students who complete four, five or six A-levels do have their grades included.

At GCSE too, there is league table confusion.

We offer the international IGCSEs in some subjects and we know that when the tables are published we will be down in comparison to schools that do not teach the IGCSE because they are not recognised by the Government.

How then can beleaguered parents make meaningful yearon- year comparisons between schools that offer different qualifications? Far from offering transparency, the league table process is opaque at best and at worst allows schools to make false claims.

To suggest that a school is best because it is high in the league table is simply wrong.

It will be best at some things but other schools lower down in the table will also be best at some things.

Ardingly College is not yet a league table rebel but, having seen how easy it is for inaccurate information to creep in and become common currency, I am keeping my options open about participating in future.

Richard Cairns has been headmaster at Brighton College since 2005.

The school was ranked the second best mixed school in the country in the Evening Standard's top 200 independent schools following its A-level results.

Mr Cairns supports league tables and says good schools should have nothing to hide.

THE excellent headmaster of Ardingly College is quite right to draw attention to the difficulties newspapers face in placing schools that study both the IB and A-Levels in their league tables.

The IB is, however, taken by a minuscule number of pupils in the UK.

The latest figures from UCAS for 2008 show that only 0.28% of British applicants to university had studied the IB.

However the overwhelming majority of schools, such as Brighton College, remain loyal to the A-level and for us, the league tables published by newspapers are far less confusing.

They simply reveal how many pupils in a particular school are securing the A or B grades at Alevel or A* or A grades at GCSE that are now demanded by leading universities.

I believe parents have a right to know this information and regard as rather patronising comments by some headteachers that parents might not understand there are all sorts of other ways of judging a school and therefore league tables should be abolished.

Parents are entitled to know how children in our schools are performing academically.

This applies even more to feepaying parents.

A good school should have nothing to hide.

Of course, parents know there is more to a school than its academic ranking.

We teachers know this, too.

I am proud of being at the top of the Sussex league tables but just as proud of the success of our rugby players or musicians.

Parents have already shown how discerning they are in choosing our schools for their children.

Surely they can be trusted to understand the annual academic snapshot which is all that a league table represents?