Irish Indo Schools Report

Enright

Just reading the league tables for schools of students who progress to college, whilst i personally don't think that it is a fair reflection of the schools concerned, I would like to know where does the data come?

I know of one school that apparently has 100% of students going to 3rd level but have several students doing repeats.

Are the figures coming from CAO offers, colleges or school returns?

killbillvol2

They said on Morning Ireland that the info comes from the colleges.

spurious

I have wondered that myself. I know of a school which for the last two years has been reported as sending 100% to college and yet asking teachers on the ground the figure is more like 15%. This year they have been reported as 22%. Neither figure is accurate.

Of course, not knowing how many non-readers or children with special needs a school has accepted/turned away makes the figures meaningless. We could all be sending 100% to college if we only took literate, motivated children without special needs.

implausible

That's the problem with this data - no clear information about how it's collated.

Our numbers were affected last year by the inclusion of everyone who sat the Leaving Cert in our school. A large class from the Adult Education centre increased the number sitting the exam and skewed our statistics of students who went onto college.

Another bugbear of mine is the non-inclusion of students who go onto colleges in the North (not universities, but with qualifications equivalent to those offered by the ITs in the South). This discriminates hugely against schools in border areas, whose students frequently choose this option.

rainbowtrout

The stats for our school were incorrect last year and when the principal rang the Indo to ask them to rectify it, he was told tough luck.

Another local school this year has 100% college attendance, yet it says in their stats 70 are attending college from the school this year, but only 67 sat the Leaving Cert.

The Indo stats are riddled with errors. It also doesn't take into account students that have deferred. While they haven't gone to college, most do the following year after taking a year out so it suggests a school has a lower participation in third level when it's not the case.

doc_17

A school close to ours has 100% attending college however this figure does not include the number who sat the LCA These guys tend not to continue onto 3rd level university or IT so it further discriminates against schools who are not able to offer this program and whose students are part of the main stats.

On a side note...the Indo have been hammering on about Maths teachers in recent months and have had several front page stories and editorials about it. what a pity that they continue to indulge in publishing meaningless statistics that are taken out of context and failing to interpret them correctly.

Enright

Thanks for all the info, but im officially lost, if LCA students sit a leaving cert and don't go to college, how can a school have 100% attending college?

If its true that the stats used by the indo are inaccurate and wrong why do they persist in using them?

rainbowtrout

Enright wrote: »

Thanks for all the info, but im officially lost, if LCA students sit a leaving cert and don't go to college, how can a school have 100% attending college?

If its true that the stats used by the indo are inaccurate and wrong why do they persist in using them?

I suppose they can publish them and there's very little the schools can do. Then they can sensationalise it any way they want.

doc_17

Just another wee point that isn't taken account in those stats. Someone living in rural west ireland 100 mile from any university might receive a university place but due to financial reasons they are not in a position to accept it. I know there are supports in place for those students but for a lot of them it is just isn't enough.

Maybe in next years project maths leaving cert paper (since they are trying to make it relevant for the kids and all) they should print the actual real stats and ask is there any correlation in the proximity of a school to a university and the number of student it sends to 3rd level.

killbillvol2

Enright wrote: »

Thanks for all the info, but im officially lost, if LCA students sit a leaving cert and don't go to college, how can a school have 100% attending college?

If its true that the stats used by the indo are inaccurate and wrong why do they persist in using them?

Are you for real? The Irish Independent and its sister rag, the Sunday Independent, operate at a very low standard of journalism. Everything is driven by an agenda, actual facts are tailored to fit that agenda if they're even used.

spurious

killbillvol2 wrote: »

Are you for real? The Irish Independent and its sister rag, the Sunday Independent, operate at a very low standard of journalism. Everything is driven by an agenda, actual facts are tailored to fit that agenda if they're even used.

The Indo will find some way to blame teachers if there is an error, don't worry.