Examination of Witness (Questions 175
- 179)
MONDAY 7 APRIL 2003
PROFESSOR CAROL
TAYLOR FITZ-GIBBON
Chairman
175. I should like to welcome Carol Fitz-Gibbon to
our deliberations. We have come back, having paved the way for
the Prime Minister and the President, because the Committee was
in Northern Ireland last week looking at the Burns Report and
the secondary education system in Northern Ireland and the Republic
of Ireland. We come fresh from that experience and have learnt
a great deal, we think. We are back now and thankful to you for
coming in to give us some help and hopefully answer some questions.
As you know, we are looking at secondary education this year.
We are looking at diversity, and have gone through that report
and are writing that up; and we are now looking at pupil achievement.
We are trying to tease out the arguments about how one looks at
and measures pupil achievement, and how one improves it. Professor
Fitz-Gibbon, do you want to say anything to open up the discussion?
(Professor Fitz-Gibbon) Has everybody
had a chance to read . . .?
176. Some people have only just received it,
as they have been on their way to London. We have only just got
this.
(Professor Fitz-Gibbon) Basically, there were 10 sections:
gender differences, ethnic and socio-economic status, the value-added
tables are calculated incorrectly and I think that needs attention.
(The impact on enrolment in maths and science is a national problem,
I would suggest). Driving up standards has been unsuccessful .
. .
177. Can you try and project your voice a little
bit?
(Professor Fitz-Gibbon) We can go straight to questions,
I think.
178. None of the material we received told us
what the YELLIS acronym stood for. We presume it does stand for
something.
(Professor Fitz-Gibbon) Sorry. There is ALIS, A-Level
Information System—and then following on from that we started
YELLIS, which is the year 11 information system. The Ls are "11".
179. I think there was one member of the Committee
who actually understood that!
(Professor Fitz-Gibbon) Before that, there is Middle
Years Information System (MIDYIS), and below that in primary there
are Performance Indicators in Primary Schools (PIPS).
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