By Ken James, Headmaster, Red House School
Today I received a letter asking me to review the academic performance data held by the Department of Education. Red House is listed and no doubt some will take a keen interest in whether we have moved up the table or whether we are sitting lower than in previous years. Personally, I take little interest in the tables and believe league tables should be the preserve of football teams.
Don’t get me wrong: academic excellence has to be at the forefront of any school and academic success for the pupils is of paramount importance. We wish to see all pupils fulfil their potential and I do not know anyone who would wish to see pupils achieve anything but their very best. But should we be judging schools and teaching purely by looking at the results of the pupils?
There are two elements to this. Firstly, academic success is only one measure of success and only one part of an excellent education. I very much believe in an holistic education and we should be striving to provide an education which prepares children for life and not just for academic success.
In a previous incarnation, I worked in the outdoor education centre at one of Sydney’s leading independent schools. The children came to us for sixth months at the age of 13. They left families and technology behind (they seemed to miss the latter most) and spent time in the bush’ learning key life lessons. I do not think I have seen a greater transformation in teenagers during my twenty year teaching career than I saw whilst working there. Confidence, self-belief and resilience were just a few of the traits which visibly developed during this period of time.
Secondly, academic success must be measured against the ability of the individual. I was previously headmaster of an academically non-selective school. In one year in particular we achieved excellent’ results at A level, results in line with some well-known selective schools. But what is excellent’? One pupil was accepted into Cambridge to read medicine and her 5 A*s certainly helped our results. But here’s my admission: I cheated’! That year we had four academic scholars who, quite rightly, achieved wonderful results; wonderful results given their academic ability. But I also had other pupils who were less academic, who achieved wonderful results relative to their ability. Are we saying these children did not work as hard? Are we saying their results are less impressive? I am certainly not and I would never wish to undermine the achievements of any children who had worked their hardest!
Education at its best is about working with individuals and we should not focus on the results of the cohort. I love the following quote, often attributed to Albert Einstein: “Everybody is a genius but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid”. We all have trees’ with which we struggle; we just need to find our ponds’ so we can succeed. Let’s discover the strengths of each child and help them to flourish in a relentless drive for excellence.
So when choosing a school, why not ask what each school can do for your son or daughter, rather than where the school is in the league tables. After all, aren’t league tables for football teams?
