Thursday 14 January 2010

More Unforeseen Consequences Of The Target-Driven Culture…

Headteachers may have deliberately closed school gates during the big freeze to avoid getting penalised over attendance figures, a leading councillor has warned.

Essex County councillor Stephen Castle is calling on the Government to change the “nonsensical” way it carries out attendance monitoring.
How can this be..?

Well….
Currently, if a school stays open, for example because of bad weather, and only a proportion of pupils attend, the school will be penalised for having a low-attendance rate by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

However, if a school decides to shut, all pupils are marked down as having attended – meaning it gets 100 per cent attendance.
Now, there’s some weapons-grade stupidity from the state. But is anyone surprised?
Mr Castle said evidence from Essex suggests these rules could have been contributing to schools closing because of the poor weather.

Mr Castle, county councillor responsible for education, said “I am calling for the department to make a change to their policy in periods of adverse weather.

“In my opinion, it is nonsensical a school is marked down for opening its doors to the many pupils able to make it in.”
What has sense to do with it?

This is centralised government bureaucracy. We’re through the looking glass, Mr Castle. Up is down, black is white, targets are all…

5 comments:

Weekend Yachtsman said...

And there was me thinking they closed the school gates because they fancied a duvet day.

marksany said...

Systems thinking in the public sector by John Sedddon is full of such examples

Quiet_Man said...

It's getting harder and harder to think of or make up stuff more ridiculous than Labours points means prizes target system.

JuliaM said...

It is certaibnly all unravelling faster and faster...

nbc said...

It's a wonder that schools open at all if this is all you need do for a 100% attendance record.