The Department for Education’s consultation into changes to higher education admissions closed this week, with the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) response backing a major overhaul of the university admissions system.
ASCL has cautiously supported a model where students apply for university courses before they complete their A-levels and other qualifications, but would not receive offers based on predicted grades as currently happens. Instead, their applications would be held until after results day and universities would then make offers on the basis of their actual results.
Geoff Barton, General Secretary of ASCL, said: ‘On balance, we think that a reform of the university admissions system is needed in order to end what has become something of a pantomime around university offers and admissions. It was a marginal call, because there’s a good argument for sticking with the existing system and trying to sort out the problems, but we’re not confident that this will actually happen, so we’re backing change.’
The Association noted that these reforms address some of the issues around predicted grades and particularly the concern that students from disadvantaged backgrounds may sometimes be under-predicted. However, they are also conscious of the need for more support after results day under this new system because they would be juggling more options than is currently the case. Additionally, Geoff Barton said ‘It is a crying shame that the government decoupled AS levels from A-levels as this system provided a very good way of providing accurate predictions.’
The past year has seen major disruptions to exams, and it is crucial we have a fair admissions system in place that doesn’t further exacerbate the impact of this. More widely, we need an examination system doesn’t unfairly penalise students from disadvantaged, and trusts the judgements of the teaching profession. Schools North East will continue to campaign for exams that allow students from all backgrounds to access the opportunities they need.
