League Tables

• Publishing each school's exam results in a league table ensures that schools that achieve good results are more in demand -> Parents are attracted to those with good league table rankings
• Will Bartlett (1993)

  • Cream-skimming: 'Good' schools can be more selective, choose their own customers and recruit high achieving, mainly middle-class pupils. As a result, these pupils gain advantage
  • Silt-shifting: 'Good' schools can avoid taking less able pupils who are likely to get poor results and damage the school's league table position
• Schools with poor league table positions, the opposite applies: Cannot afford to be selective; having to take less able, mainly working-class pupils - results are poorer and remain unattractive to middle-class parents.
• The overall effect of league tables is thus to produce unequal schools that reproduce social class inequalities