In 2006, London was the worst performing region at both primary and secondary levels but now it is the very best. But how do the capital’s children perform against children from other global cities or economies? Our young people are competing in an international labour market and should be aiming to achieve alongside the best from Singapore, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Germany.
We know that English children perform around the average in English and Maths (and just above the average in Science) among the 34 OECD countries. Although performance in reading is well below the highest performing parts of the world such as Shanghai-China, Finland and South Korea.[i]But at present we do not have the data to be able to assess how well London’s children are achieving.
The London Assembly Education Panel report ‘London learners, London lives’ calls for a new set of international city comparators so we can compare our performance with the best in the world.
The report makes a number of further recommendations to improve the fragmented school landscape in London – they include;
To address the school places crisis the Mayor in conjunction with London Councils should map out a land and asset availability assessment to provide options for meeting the need from our fast growing population
To identify poorly performing schools the Mayor should draw together performance data (attainment and achievement) for all schools in London and publish this in his next Annual report.
To hold academies more effectively to account the Secretary of State for Education should reconfigure the Regional Commissioners so that London has one Regional Commissioner.
Notes for Editors:
1. Mayor’s 2013 Educational Annual Report
2. “London learners, London Lives: Tackling the school places deficit and supporting children to attain the best they can” Report (attached)
3. The Chair of the Education Panel, Jennette Arnold OBE AM, is available for interview – see contact details below.
4. As well as investigating issues that matter to Londoners, the London Assembly acts as a check and a balance on the Mayor.
For media enquiries, please contact Alison Bell on 020 7983 4504. For out-of-hours media enquiries, call 020 7983 4000 and ask for the London Assembly duty press officer. Non-media enquiries should be directed to the Public Liaison Unit on 020 7983 4100.