Educational performance statistics

Summary

There is a wide range of statistics on educational performance across the UK. In England, the largest producer of official statistics on education and skills is the Department for Education (DfE). Statistics produced by DfE can be found on Explore Education Statistics. Official statistics on school and college inspections are produced by Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) and official statistics on exam results are produced by the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). Official statistics on Higher Education are produced by the Office for Students (OfS) and by Jisc.

In Scotland, official statistics on education are primarily produced by Scottish Government and by the Scottish Funding Council. In Wales, official statistics on education and skills are produced by Welsh Government, and in Northern Ireland, official statistics are produced by Department of Education and Department for the Economy.

It can be difficult to compare students’ education performance across the UK because each nation has its own education system, and most measures are not directly comparable. There are several ways that education performance is compared across the UK and between the UK and other countries in international studies; these are the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the OECD Education at a Glance publication (EAG), and the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement’s two studies Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Progress in Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS).

There is currently a lot of interest in pupil absence in schools across the UK. DfE publish regular official statistics in development on pupil attendance in addition to its term based accredited official statistics publication. Wales also provide management information and wider reports such as Absenteeism from Secondary Schools. Both Scotland and Northern Ireland provide annual reports on pupil attendance.

Things to consider in statements about educational performance:

The three international studies; PISA, PIRLS, and TIMSS provide a score and a ranking for each country for various skills including maths and reading in 15-year-olds (PISA), reading literacy in year 5 pupils (PIRLS), and maths and science knowledge of year 5 and year 9 pupils (TIMSS). Education at a Glance (EAG) is a large publication covering many different indicators such as participation in education, financial resources invested in education, and teachers.

When comparing countries’ performance over time, it is important to consider the impact of Covid-19 on all countries involved in the study as well as the longer-term trend decline in educational performance seen in the data. In the latest year for PISA in particular, several countries including England, Wales and Northern Ireland did not meet all of the OECD’s data response requirements, which might have impacted their scores and rankings.

The comparison of good and outstanding schools can be a useful indicator of school performance over time. In England, Ofsted’s methodology guidance informs users that the overall effectiveness judgement has remained broadly comparable across the different inspection frameworks since 2005. However, as with any high-level comparison, the nuanced nature of any changes may not be fully reflected when used across an extended timeseries. When comparing the proportion of good and outstanding schools over time, there are several factors which have likely impacted inspection outcomes. For example, changes to inspection frameworks and the impact of Covid-19. Ofsted has recently updated its methodology information to note that users should be aware when examining inspection outcomes over a long time period that this is a high-level comparison and spans a period of change in the education system and multiple inspection frameworks. When making comparisons over a longer time series about the number of pupils taught in good and outstanding schools, users should also ensure that they are taking population growth into account.

There were varying methods of awarding grades during the Covid-19 pandemic across the UK, and therefore comparisons of exam results with each UK country over the last few years should be treated with caution. The ‘Qualification headline measures’ section of DfE’s Education and Training Statistics for the UK release provides more information on the approaches taken.

There are different definitions and measures of pupil absence from school. Both England and Wales use the concept of ‘persistently absent pupils’, defined as pupils who miss more than 10% of sessions (a session being half a day of school) in England and more than 20% of sessions in Wales. Sometimes the concept of persistently absent pupils is conflated with children missing education (those who are not registered at a school and are not receiving suitable education elsewhere) and electively home-educated pupils, neither of whom are on school rolls.

In Scotland, the Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence Levels Statistics are not directly comparable with the Scottish Survey of Numeracy and Literacy. This means that it is not possible to compare performance in numeracy and literacy prior 2015 to after 2015.

In Wales, the statistics based on the Personalised Assessments of reading and numeracy are still in development and are not comparable with the previous National Reading and Numeracy Tests. This means that it is not possible to examine the long term trend of reading and numeracy in Wales.

What to look out for when hearing statements on this topic:

Claims about the PISA results. When interpreting the 2022 PISA results, users should be aware that both a score and a rank for each country is calculated. It is possible for one of these metrics to go up even if the other goes down and so using them together will give the fullest picture.

Claims about the proportion of good and outstanding schools under different governments. The proportion of good and outstanding schools can be a useful indicator of school performance over time and in England, the overall effectiveness judgement has remained broadly comparably across the different inspection frameworks since 2005. However, users should be aware when examining inspection outcomes over a long time period that this is a high-level comparison and spans a period of change in the education system and multiple inspection frameworks.

Claims about the performance of academies compared to Local Authority (LA) maintained schools in England. It is hard to draw reliable conclusions over time on the effectiveness of academisation. Users should be aware that since 2010, it has been government policy to convert all inadequate local authority schools to academies, referred to as ‘Sponsored Academies’, which are not reinspected for three years following conversion. The majority of academies are schools that were rated as good or outstanding which converted to academies voluntarily. Users should be aware that outstanding schools were exempt from routine inspections between 2012 and 2020. These factors mean that the school inspection outcomes for academies and LA maintained schools are not directly comparable.

Claims about the reasons behind the increase in pupil absence as well as comparisons between pre-pandemic and periods affected by Covid-19. The relevant statistics show that illness is the main reason for, and driver of, school absence in all UK countries. Users should also be aware that comparisons of attendance across years affected by Covid-19 should be treated with caution due to changes in how pupils who did not attend for reasons related to Covid-19 were recorded. The Department for Education has published a helpful blog post that supports the interpretation of statistics on school absence in England.

Claims about the numbers of teachers. When using statistics about teachers, users should be aware that there are several different metrics that may give different perspectives. These metrics include the number of teachers, the number of teachers who left the profession, and pupil-to-teacher ratios.

Wider support

There are several organisations and research institutions that produce their own analysis on educational performance.

The FFT Education Datalab produces independent research on education policy and practice.

The National Foundation for Education (NFER) produces research of education policy and practice.

The Nuffield Foundation also funds research and development projects relating to education across all life stages.

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is an independent organisation that aims to support schools, improve the life chances of disadvantaged pupils and improve teaching and learning through better use of evidence.

There are also a number of policy institutes in the education space including the Education Policy Institute and the Higher Education Policy Institute.