School Banding: a waste of time and resources

Following the announcement of the banding results for secondary schools in Wales, a spokesperson for UCAC education union said: “Each new set of banding results only emphasises the meaninglessness of this process and any information that emerges from it.

 

“Yes, the Government and Local Authorities need to be able to identify schools that require extra support – that’s perfectly reasonable. However, that would be possible on the basis of a series of individual items of data relating to school performance.

 

“What makes the banding system so entirely devoid of meaning is the combination of different sets of data into one figure, and one category, which ends up being largely arbitrary and undependable. Worse than that, it’s misleading, particularly for parents and local communities.

 

“In a period when we need to concentrate our energy, our time and our precious resources on raising educational standards, UCAC is of the opinion that banding is an extremely ineffective way of achieving the goal it sets itself.

 

“We call once again on the Welsh Government to reconsider the system. Tinkering with the individual data items is not the way forward – the system in its entirety needs to be scrapped.”

 

Notes

For further information please contact:

 

·        Rebecca Williams (Policy Officer) on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.