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Concerns over admissions this year could lead to post-qualification admissions system, says charity
Upheaval to this year’s recruitment cycle caused by the coronavirus offers a chance to introduce a post-qualification admissions system, the Sutton Trust has claimed.
In a report published 4 May, the social mobility charity said the “unreliability of predicted grades has been acknowledged” this year as the exam watchdog Ofqual is forced to step in and adjust predicted grades for A level students. Exams have been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic and A level students will see their predicted grades used to calculate a final result.
The Sutton Trust said predicted grades “disadvantage poorer students” and higher education leaders “should take this opportunity to remove predicted grades from the system entirely by moving to a post-qualification system going forward”.
It comes after a survey by the trust revealed almost half (48 per cent) of school leavers fear the coronavirus will hurt their chances of getting into their first choice university, while almost three quarters (72 per cent) believe this year’s A levels—which use predicted grades—are unfair.
Working class applicants were more likely to be worried about how the coronavirus will affect their higher education, with 51 per cent reporting concerns compared to 43 per cent of their better-off peers.
Peter Lampl, founder and chair of the Sutton Trust, said the research showed “a huge degree of worry and uncertainty among university applicants and current students” about how Covid-19 will affect them. “There are no easy solutions to this unprecedented situation. But what is of upmost importance is that the poorest students do not lose out,” he added.
Elsewhere, the Sutton Trust stressed that any cap on student numbers for the next academic year must be “designed in a way which does not disadvantaged poorer students”. The report comes as the government outlines a support package for universities, which floats the idea of a cap on student numbers to stop some universities recruiting more than their fair share of students.
It also revealed that one in three current students have lost a job, been forced to take reduced hours or not been paid since the coronavirus lockdown began, and 30 per cent believe they will be less able to afford their studies as a result.
Commenting on the report, director of access charity Neon, Graeme Atherton, told Research Professional News universities must “continue to be proactive” on outreach work during the pandemic. “It is imperative that universities do not look at widening access work as an area where economies can be made at this time,” he said, explaining that widening access staff “have a vital role to play” in supporting applicants from working class backgrounds in this “untried higher education admissions approach”.
Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said that while A level students’ anxiety is understandable, exam boards would “ensure there is no disadvantage” to students, and their final grades “will allow students to progress to university courses in the normal way with qualifications which are as valid as they are in any other year”.
The Sutton Trust surveyed 511 university applicants and 895 current university students.