The NASUWT have reported that less than a third of parents check league tables when they are scouting for their children's school. In fact, statistics show that the winning factor is general information from websites with 54% of parents relying on the facts they read there. Another 49% read the latest inspection report and 53% rely on word of mouth, talking to the parents of children attending the prospective institution.
The general secretary of NASUWT urged government officials to take note of these findings and accept that league tables are an unnecessary and 'negative annual ritual'. "It is clear that punitive ranking of schools in performance league tables is not something on which the majority of parents rely,” he said. “Therefore schools, parents and children are subjected to this negative annual ritual unnecessarily."
