Ucas chief blames private schools for A-level fiasco

Poor standards of teaching in independent schools were to blame for this summer's A–level problems, the head of the universities' admissions service says today.

Tony Higgins, chief executive of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas), says many private schools are still appealing against their results despite the fact that figures for the number of students swapping universities after marks have been checked indicate there was no A-level "crisis".

Writing in the Education section of today's Independent, he says: "Insiders say the appeals will be turned down because the independent schools in particular do not understand coursework. They don't understand how to set it, how to monitor it or how to assess it."

He says the inquiry into what happened has led to only 16 students changing university or college, with a further eight who initially failed to gain a university place now winning one.

"There was no crisis or fiasco," he adds. "The most passionate supporter of students, schools and teachers, Estelle Morris, lost her job because of this non-fiasco. So too did Bill Stubbs, probably the most talented education administrator we have seen in a generation.

"Will we now see parents taking legal action against schools that have not delivered the education they were expecting for their £12,000-a-year fees? These are not my views but what I have heard around the circuit."

Coursework is a major feature of the new system, with pupils able to retake units of the new A and AS-level exams as many times as they want if they are unhappy with their marks – seen by some educationists as a significant move away from the traditional method of examination.

His comments were described as "outrageous" by Geoff Lucas, secretary of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, which represents leading independent boys' schools. He accused Mr Higgins of having "foot-in-mouth disease" and demanded to see evidence that teaching standards were to blame. "He is just not in touch with the evidence," he added.

He said figures given to the inquiry by Mike Tomlinson, the former chief schools inspector, into what happened this summer showed that of the 10,000 A-level units upgraded, only 14 per cent were from the independent sector.