Frustration at needing FoI for GCSE result details

More openness has been called for after a Freedom of Information (FoI) request was required to find out how schools performed in GCSE exams.

Alisdair Macleod, from St Martin, Jersey, submitted an FoI because the island's government does not release a full breakdown of how each school did in each subject.

Macleod said he thought the island's government should be "more focused" on providing the information which would ultimately help parents make decisions about their child's education.

Education Minister Catherine Curtis agreed there should be more transparency and said there was already a policy in development to release more information.

Macleod does not have children himself but wanted to find out more about GCSE results after helping a friend whose daughter was due to start secondary school.

He said while each year Jersey outperforms England on average, the full figures have shown a different story.

This year, Jersey's GCSE pass rate was 77.1%, which was higher than England's figure of 67.1%.

But in 2020, an independent report prepared for Jersey's government said there was "significant variation in attainment by school type" and the overall figure was "significantly improved by fee-paying schools".

Macleod's FoI showed this was the case for results in 2024, where Victoria College and Jersey College for Girls performed better than States schools.

The FoI showed similar figures for 2025, with nearly half of pupils in some schools not achieving a standard pass in maths or English.

Macleod said the process had been more challenging than he would have liked.

He said: "I think that the government should be more focused on providing us with the information that we need in order to assess how well they're carrying out their responsibilities."

Macleod said it was surprising the government often highlighted the comparison with England, when it was aware of its limitations.

He added he felt the education situation in Jersey was "complex" and this meant parents needed "more information, not less".

"I think we should get the headline and the information behind the headline so that we can make our own judgements about how the government is doing," Macleod said.

Curtis has promised that there would be more extensive GCSE results to help parents make "the best choice" for their children.

She emphasised there was more to a school's performance than exam results, but there would be a complete review of all schools to look at how they could improve.

The minister said there was already a policy in development to release more data, which she hoped would come into effect for next summer's results.

She thought it would include exam results for all schools and agreed people should not need an FoI to find that information out.

She said data had to come with context, because schools have different admission policies.

"I want parents to have the best choice they can, an informed choice on what they're doing," Curtis said.

Deputy Victoria Li, chairwoman of the Education Scrutiny Panel, said she would work with the minister to make sure the data is contextual.

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