THE furore over the published results of this year’s Key Stage One Standard Assessment Tasks results that indicate Oxford city schools are the worst in England needs to put into perspective.

I make a few brief points that I trust will engender a debate and hopefully make a number of parents consider their role.

Firstly, let’s consider the tasks, or tests, themselves. They are administered to the children in Year Two by the children’s class teachers and also marked by them.

Most Year Two teachers have high standards and expectations, and judge the pupils’ performance on those premises.

The raw results are levelled and these are then moderated together with marked scripts from other local schools against a set of criteria by representatives from the advisory service of the local authority.

If the moderations and judgments are made using a harsh set of base criteria then a poor overall picture will be represented.

How do we know what those criteria were?

Secondly, let us consider the make-up of the school population in state schools in the city of Oxford.

Nationally the percentage of pupils attending private schools is about seven per cent; in Oxford it is nearer 20 per cent.

Take away from the city everything associated with Oxford University and consider what is left. Oxford has been a draw to migrants for many years and of the more recent, many have English as a second (or third or more) language, which is a significant factor when their children enter school.

Thirdly, consider that many teachers of young children tend to try to ameliorate the poor home life and parenting that has been experienced by some children by acting as surrogate social workers and giving the pupils a larger proportion of play time and other activities to try to enhance social skills rather than concentrating on “education”.

I know quite a few headteachers and class teachers in the city and I know how professional they are.

I also know that Michael Waine, the county council cabinet member for school improvement, was for many years a dedicated and successful headteacher of Glory Farm Primary School in Bicester and how highly regarded he was, and can only imagine how he feels about this situation.

The way forward is for parents of pre-school children, and those in their first couple of years in school, to realise their responsibilities as parents to ensure their children are included in conversations at home to enhance their language acquisition and in family activities such as meals together to improve their social skills, instead of being given a TV dinner as they sit in front of some inept programme and to respond positively to the work and requests of nurseries, pre-school centres and the primary schools.

By working together, the parents, teachers, support workers and local authority will address this problem and it should become a thing of the past.

Clive Hallett Former headteacher of Wheatley Primary School (1983 – 2005) and secretary of Oxfordshire NAHT (1994 – 2006) Templars Close Wheatley