Recent news highlights that certain schools have been ejecting students after Year 12 A/S results and refusing to allow the students to carry on at the school in to Year 13. It is a controversial subject by nature because in effect the schools are pre-selecting which students are being allowed to contribute to their A level pass grades. However, as the heads of the schools involved are now discovering with the threat of disgruntled parents taken the school to court, this pre-selection of pupils is in fact unlawful.
When these kinds of situations occur it is often sensible to attempt to understand the motives for such behaviour. For sure, schools are under immense pressure to attain high grades for their students and sustain their perceived reputation, so by continually filtering out what is deemed to be lower performing students, a school is in effect increasing the %’s of higher grades per student. But this point about assessing the potential for pupils is important. What these schools who now under the spotlight are doing is using the now defunct A/S examination at the end of Year 12 to provide them with some perceived “authority” to then eject the lower performing students. Not all schools are taking this approach – a great many in fact do not. Many schools have sufficiently robust and accurate means to assess student potential to ensure that support mechanisms are put in place without the need for the externally assessed examination.
So if a school is being run by a head that places extreme importance on the percentage of high grades PER student then clearly the temptation to what turns out to be unlawfully control the students who are allowed to be measured is quite simply too high.
Tom Ingram (Owner of BIG TOM Driving School) adds what relevance this has to learning to drive:
This now nationally exposed development in schools comes as no surprise to me, I have been hearing pupils who were learning to drive with me complaining about this at Bourne Grammar School for a long time. And there is a lesson to be learnt here with regards to learning to drive too. If there is a pressure to perform certain percentage pass rates then it will, by nature, effect the behaviours of driving schools. I sincerely hope that the DVSA are paying attention to these events. There are some intensive driving course providers for example who will not allow a pupil to take a course if they have not already driven for a certain number of hours. In effect, just like the schools mentioned in this blog, they are being selective as to which pupils they will work with. With BIG TOM Driving School we have never set such conditions to come and enjoy our popular 5 Day Intensive Driving Course. We set no unrealistic expectations and we offer a very accurate and methodical assessment process so that pupils know precisely where they are in terms of progress as they go through their course. In my experience it makes very little sense to directly place an unnecessary external pressure on the shoulders of a pupil who is attempting to learn. I am not suggesting that it is impossible for it to be motivational, but this concept of only working with pupils of a certain standard is a very lazy and complacent approach within a learning environment. No pupil should be refrained from the opportunity for learning. The restrictions that are set by the training providers is purely designed for their own personal gain rather than having any regard for providing help, guidance and assistance to all pupils with a variety of needs. So here at BIG TOM we openly welcome pupils to come and learn to drive with no previous driving experience at all. We make no false promises or ‘guarantees’ about outcomes, we will not put any unnecessary pressure on you at all, but you will be given the opportunity to significantly reduce the time taken to learn to drive as compared to the old fashioned method of pay as you go driving lessons. My driving school is giving our customers choice about how they learn to drive, so it is all about opportunity for all as opposed to selection for some.
I would encourage my customers to think of the process of learning to drive as an opportunity to gain experience, confidence and refine key skills for road safety, rather than the attainment of a certain academic qualification grade. The consequences of not being trained appropriately when learning to drive are just too serious and the aim is to effectively learn a practical skill.
BIG TOM Driving School Enquiries: Admin@BIGTOM.org.uk Sales: 07756 071 464
