There is currently much discussion about reforming the university admissions system in the UK. The current system, whereby students apply to universities during the autumn of their final school year and are then offered places subject to interviews and particular grades in exams yet to come not only places a huge amount of pressure on students, but leaves a high degress of uncertainty for universities. It is also said to often fail to adequately distinguish between the high number of students achieving the top grades, and certainly produces dilemmas of how to respond to particularly able students held back by a range of societal factors.
This week’s most talked about suggestion is to allow universities to see marks for the individual modules or papers that comprise a given subject’s grade. This, it is argued, would allow admissions tutors to better distinguish between students who may all finish with the same grade, but whose skills may be skewed towards particular areas of their subject.
The proposal is controversial, and with good reason. Not only would it considerably increase the administrative burden (something that intelligent use of software and further investment should be able to overcome) but it is not nuanced enough to take into account the differing ways students’ learning developed. On modular courses, some students will consistently achieve grades which reflect their final result, but others will find that there will come a point where their knowledge and understanding reach a critical mass, and as a result their performance will be considerably better later in the course. Many A-level course providers acknowledge that by providing the option for students to re-take early modules later in their courses.
It can be argued—and is often true—that consistently high grades are a sign of a particularly able student. What such an approach fails to take into account is that those students who need a certain range or depth of knowledge before they can really understand the content of their courses and perform in exams are not necessarily less able to make the most of university courses, and it may be that their learning style is better suited to the more in-depth teaching provided at university level.