Cambridge University Students’ Union has continued its dialogue with the Department for Education regarding CUSU’s opposition to Michael Gove’s proposed reforms to the A Level system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. 

On 12 March 2013, CUSU delivered a petition of over 1,600 signatures and 200 personal testimonies to the Department for Education, protesting against the planned changes to the way Sixth Form students are assessed. The Government’s response stated: “Many leading universities have shared their concerns with us about current A Levels”, and “With regard to your members’ concern that AS performance at the end of Year 12 helps young people to make their choices; we expect that, as now, schools will use their own formative assessments to support students’ progression.” The full text of the letter can be found here.

Dissatisfied with the response, CUSU Access has again written to Michael Gove’s office, slamming these defences. In particular, CUSU has demanded to know: “which universities have said that getting rid of AS level exams would be more beneficial than harmful, and therefore be a solution to the problems they perceive?” The full text of CUSU’s letter to the Department for Education can be found below.

The views expressed in the following letter are the views of the Cambridge University Students’ Union and not those of Varsity. 

Dear Ms Truss, 

Thank you for your reply to our AS level petition. We do not feel as though the points we made were adequately considered by the Department, especially as your letter seemed to imply that our main concern was the administrative impact on the University of Cambridge’s admissions process. Whilst this is a concern we share with the University, we are primarily concerned about the actual effect of these reforms on sixth form students, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds in Higher Education, and their fair access to it.

In our experience, the current AS/A level system gives many students the confidence to aim higher, being boosted by better than expected AS level results; this was evidenced by many of our student testimonies submitted alongside the petition. This confidence comes from doing well in robust national exams that count towards their final A level grades. Additionally, having to take exams at the end of two years would create an unnecessary pressure on students, not all of whom learn best this way, and we know this because students have told us. The AS level exams currently relieve this pressure by giving students the chance to gauge how well they are doing, providing a qualified and meaningful benchmark unmatched by any other method and removing the uncertainties of teachers’ predictions. The current exam system is also significantly less vulnerable to unforeseen circumstances (particularly those affecting students for a limited period – e.g. illness) rendering it much more reliable. 

One of the great advantages of the current system is the flexibility and choice afforded to students who take several AS levels and then later choose to continue to A level and engage in deeper study of more targeted subjects: such prevents students from making decisions about their academic progression that so many later regret, and produces more rounded and capable students. Those from schools that have limited access to careers advice—especially after this Government’s abolition of Aimhigher—are otherwise more likely to make choices that are ill-informed and not in their best interests. The flexibility and time to change paths is beneficial to students as they discover more about themselves and the subjects that they enjoy.

In your response to our petition you mentioned that ‘Many leading universities have shared their concerns with us about current A levels’. Our question in response to this is: which universities have said that getting rid of AS level exams would be more beneficial than harmful, and therefore be a solution to the problems they perceive? As has been made clear in a letter written in opposition to your policy, dated 28 January 2013 and signed by all Cambridge Admissions Tutors, the University of Cambridge certainly has not. If you mean that several universities are concerned that the content of some courses does not adequately prepare students for some degrees then this is surely a question of content and not of course structure.

Your main argument, it seems, is that through changing the course structure you allow the chance for ‘deep thought’. This chance will clearly not become a reality when, as you state in your letter, ‘we expect that, as now, schools will use their own formative assessments to support students’ progression’. If the new qualifications are intended to be taught across two years, what then will schools be able to reliably assess at the end of just one year? And will having exams at this point not require a revision period akin to that which already exists? If not, then these exams will be an even less reliable predictor of performance in the following year. Whether students are examined at the end of year twelve now becomes entirely dependent on whether their school wishes to set assessments. Should they set them, these assessments will, by their very nature, be less rigorous than national exams and will not give students the same confidence boost that is gained by doing well in nation-wide exams.

You also state that ‘Students should expect to receive regular and effective feedback that helps them to develop, and gives them a good understanding of the level of attainment they are working at and aiming for’. This is again very dependent on the difficulty of the teaching environment, leaving pupils at more challenging schools at a disadvantage once again.

David Laws, in the parliamentary debate of 16.4.13, stated that ‘If schools and colleges decide to teach the AS in any given subject in one year, that would give them the opportunity… to co-teach the AS and the new A level together’. This compatibility across the AS and A level suggests to us that the content of these qualifications is not actually going to change: if A levels are being taught as if they have an AS level component, where is the space for ‘developing students’ deep understanding and love of a subject’?

It is our view that this policy does not actually achieve its stated aims of better preparing students for university study, but instead restricts choice, limits students’ confidence, adds immense pressure and further disadvantages those in the most challenging schools.

We would appreciate a fully considered response from the Department addressing the above concerns. 

Yours respectfully, 

Cambridge University Students’ Union