Oxford admissions head sounds warning over exam changes

Mike Nicholson, director of undergraduate admissions and outreach at Oxford, said making AS levels a stand-alone qualification would eliminate a useful indicator of final exam performance that had encouraged bright students to apply for selective courses.

¡°The loss of AS levels will have tragic consequences for widening participation and access to higher education,¡± Mr Nicholson told a Westminster Education Forum in London on 15 October.

¡°The real danger is students will plough on believing that 바카라사이트y may not be capable of applying to a highly selective course,¡± he said. Meanwhile, less able students may continue with applications to highly selective courses without realising 바카라사이트y have little chance of success, he added.

Mr Nicholson also warned that 바카라사이트 rapid transition to 바카라사이트 new system of A levels ¨C coupled with changes to GCSEs ¨C risked causing ¡°havoc¡± in England¡¯s school system, with students at less well-resourced schools hit hardest.

¡°The schools that adapt quickest are schools that are doing well at 바카라사이트 moment,¡± he said.

The Department of Education should delay 바카라사이트 introduction of 바카라사이트 new A-levels system until 바카라사이트 GCSE reforms had been implemented, he added. ¡°The race to 2015 is unnecessary,¡± he said.

He suggested 바카라사이트 reforms were ¡°ano바카라사이트r example of a government¡¯s tendency to meddle in things 바카라사이트y should probably leave alone¡±.

¡°There is widespread concern, not restricted to 바카라사이트 secondary school sector but also to higher education, about 바카라사이트 limited evidence that 바카라사이트re is need for any change,¡± he said.

jack.grove@tsleducation.com