The government’s education performance tables were published last week for the previous academic year. The fact it is six months after that year finished is an indication of the Byzantine edifice that is the current league table model.

In some of the columns, the numbers are so large as to make any conclusions impossible. What does the difference between 1,082 and 1,197 actually tell anyone? Does it show one school is a disaster and another thriving, one is “driving up standards” and the other “coasting”, one deserves being taken over, the other take over – or that a couple of candidates had a bad cold during the main exam period?

Because of this statisticians’ paradise, I expect many parents rely on the media headlines which this year tell us there are still over 100 secondary schools with examination results we should worry about, but that is better than last year.

No sane person would judge an education on exam figures even if these figures were reliable in any normal sense of the word. But the problem is we do. Individuals’ futures open or close, institutions stand or fall on them.

The inadequacy of exam results to tell us very much that really matters was highlighted in another set of figures also published last week.

The Association of Graduate Recruiters surveyed more than 200 employers including the Bank of England, Marks and Spencers, Ernst and Young, John Lewis, Procter and Gamble, GCHQ and Grant Thornton and discovered that one in three had failed to meet their graduate recruitment targets last year. This is despite a rise in unemployment and the fact that far more graduates have top degrees than ten years ago.

The employers cited a lack of the skills. So good A Levels and degree class don’t make people work well with others, get to work on time or be enthusiastic. Skills employers, not unreasonably, are seeking.

One problem is that these are probably not “skills” at all, but using that word suggests they can be taught and assessed in the way learning to use Power Point can. Because schools are forced into solely concentrating on certain exam results, education has been lost down the plug hole of ease of assessment.

Empathy, self discipline and enthusiasm can be nurtured over time but it is missing the point to think they can be assessed in a uniform way.

Exams are what they are. They have got a role but we should not be blinded by data into thinking they tell us everything.

* Sarah Evans, Principal, King Edward VI High School for Girls