By Kate Loveys
Last updated at 7:31 AM on 27th December 2010
Reforms: Ministers hope to improve social mobility
A dramatic shake-up of university admissions could see students waiting for their A-level results before applying for degrees.
Teenagers currently apply for courses on the basis of the grades their teachers predict they will achieve – even though up to half of estimated grades turn out to be wrong.
The new plan would mean prospective students could apply only after they have been awarded the marks necessary to secure a place at their university of choice.
The reform would require an overhaul of the current system, with speedier marking and A-level exams taken earlier in the academic year.
It is designed to help state pupils who are often predicted lower grades than they go on to achieve.
It is one of a number of proposed changes – for inclusion in next spring’s education white paper – aimed at minimising the damage that the hike in tuition fees could have on social mobility.
Universities minister David Willetts has given his provisional backing to the plan.
The changes have been prompted by Oxford University research commissioned by Mr Willetts’ department which shows that the most able candidates from comprehensive schools are disadvantaged by the current system.
This is because their teachers underestimate the grades they go on to receive – often because they have less experience than those in independent and grammar schools of dealing with such high achievers.
As a result, many highly capable candidates do not apply for the country’s top universities.
Mary Curnock Cook, of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, the most senior figure in the admissions system, has strongly backed the plans and believes they could be implemented within five years.
She believes the chief hurdle is the time taken by exam boards to mark students’ papers.
For the reform to work, A-level results would need to be available by early summer to allow time for students to apply for courses starting in late September or early October.
At present students receive their results in August, nine months after receiving their predicted grades.
Mrs Curnock Cook said: ‘I have come to the conclusion that probably the biggest single reform that we can do in the qualifications arena and higher education is to move to a post-qualifications admissions system.
‘This is something that’s been put in the “too difficult to handle box” for a very long time.’
Mrs Curnock Cook said she was ‘shocked’ by the time taken by exam boards to mark papers, asking: ‘What’s happened to technology?’
She added: ‘I cannot believe that in the next five years we cannot speed up the marking of exams.’
The proposal will be studied by exam watchdog Ofqual.
Its chief executive, Isabel Nisbet, said: ‘We will actively consider the proposals with Ucas and with the awarding organisation we regulate.’
Backing: Universities Minister David Willetts approves of the scheme
Mr Willetts stressed the need for the reform.
He said: ‘The big argument in favour is that in terms of social mobility, there is some underestimation in the forecast of A-level grades of teenagers at mainstream, non-academic schools.
‘There are some people from tough backgrounds who do better at their A-level grades than predicted and might have got to a more competitive university if it had been possible to judge them on their actual performance, not their predicted performance.’
However, Simon Lebus, of exam board Cambridge Assessment, questioned the feasibility of the proposals.
‘If you wanted to have results at a certain time, I am sure awarding bodies could bring it forward a week or two weeks,’ he said.
‘The issue is about schools having the ability to receive the results earlier in the summer holidays and how set-up the universities would be to handle many thousands of applications over a shorter period.’
Could this be the end of GCSEs?
GCSES have ‘run their course’ and should be scrapped, according to a leading headmistress.
With the school leaving age set to be raised to 18 – when students sit exams such as A-levels – national tests at 16 are no longer relevant, Dr Helen Wright, the new president of the Girls’ Schools Association has claimed.
In one of her first interviews as president, Dr Wright said a shake-up of how secondary school pupils are assessed is needed.
She said: ‘On one level we are raising the school leaving age to 18, so why do we need to focus on the age of 16?
‘Why shouldn’t we be looking at children earlier or later?
‘Shouldn’t we be scrapping the exam at 16 or diminishing its value or importance?’
Dr Wright, who is headmistress of St Mary’s School Calne in Wiltshire, admitted that revamping the system is a ‘big ask’. But she said: ‘If we are not asking these questions we are not thinking big thoughts and we are not actually going to move forward.’
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