26th January 2011 9:00
By Blue Tutors
The government is considering changing the timing of the A level exams so that pupils can apply to university having already obtained their final grades. In a report on the BBC website it’s claimed that this would offer a fairer system, and would help those students whose grades were under-predicted.
The BBC correspondent Reeta Chakrabarti said that typically students from poorer backgrounds have lower predicted grades than their final grade, compared to students from more affluent backgrounds, where this difference is not so obvious. Ministers hope that the change would mean that students from poorer backgrounds would have a better chance of attending a good university, but that it would take careful planning to rearrange the new times for the A level exams.
The Universities Minister, David Willets said that the system would have to be ‘re-engineered’, but that it must better for everyone to deal with how a student actually performs, rather than relying on speculative grades. He added that there is currently a 5 day window for students who have outperformed their predicted grades, where they can seek a better university course through and process know as adjustment. However, currently there is little room for manoeuvre because of the pressure on university places.