This week the British education system delivered yet another record haul. It’s the 27th year in a row that A level results have improved. At the current rate of progress, 100% of school leavers will have an A before the century is out. Celebration meets with cynicism. But apart from scoffing at this specious success, the stats confirm two facts. Firstly, A levels are failing to offer a reliable indication for admissions tutors. And secondly, with 50% of private schools’ grades being A compared with 20% of comprehensives’, education suffers from great disparity.
What is to be done? Firstly, Britain needs to be able to refute accusations of ‘dumming down’ at all levels. It is implausible that every year leaves the one before eating its dust. Even Usain Bolt clocks up some slightly slower times between world records. If twice as many graduates leave with firsts as a decade ago, somehow this must mean firsts are getting easier. Even if genuine improvements are being made, they are being effaced by an obsession to make the numbers look good whatever the cost. Tables beyond our control such as the UN’s education index put Britain in 28th place globally and show falling standards. If you need more convincing that higher scores are being achieved by shifting the goal posts then take a look at the exam regs for your degree from the 50s. Thought it couldn’t be any harder than it is now? Think again.
But even if being more realistic about how well people are doing stems the dubious tide of success, the top grade at A level is still going to be too overcrowded for the most competitive universities to see what’s going on. There is a big shift in ability between someone scraping an A and someone scoring full marks. Next year’s A* (for those scoring 90%) won’t help as it is only awarded for A2 not for AS – i.e. after offers have been made. Besides, it won’t be long till we’ll need to add another star.
There wasn’t always this problem – from 1963-84, A grades were reserved for the top 10% of performers. Grades showed not how much of the syllabus you had mastered, but how well you competed. We shouldn’t return to this since it is useful to know what proportion of the syllabus’ criteria have been met. But we can easily restore the competitive factor by another means. Let’s introduce a percentile score alongside the grade to show where candidates rank in the field. Standards will rise as candidates won’t be able relax, confident they’re on track for the middle of a big cushy grade span but have to push themselves to gain every point on the 100 rung ladder. That way everyone can get an A*** or first for politicians to brag about without making the whole exercise useless for admissions and employers.
But although we’ve worked out how to tell how well people have done in exams, we haven’t ended an admissions tutor’s troubles. Now we bring out our second set of alarming statistics showing that, as a group, people who have their education paid for are at an immense advantage. Not only do they do much better at GCSE and A level, but also, although comprising just 7% of the school population, they make up around half of Oxford’s domestic intake. Later in life the advantages keep rolling in – 75% of judges went to private school.
Now, I am the last to stand up in favour of positive discrimination. It would be divisive and detrimental to the deserving. But top universities should be looking to admit the brightest and the best and that’s not necessarily the same as those scoring the top A levels. If someone’s done well because they’ve had easy access to much better resources, smaller classes and been able to afford additional exam-focused, spoon-feeding tuition then this isn’t as impressive as someone who’s achieved the same without any of that.
What the Russell Group should be looking for are those with the greatest potential. This shouldn’t be measured by the current aptitude tests – it’s too easy to improve through coaching, once more the domain of the privileged. Instead, admissions tutors should have much more access to the context of a candidate’s achievement. The more relevant – and it must be relevant – background information they have, the more accurate this process will be. How well someone has done in relation to others who share their situation is a good indication of how well they are likely to do once the field is levelled.
Once we know what place people have finished in as well as who their real rivals were, then we can find out who the real successes are.
