Fine top universities for ignoring AS-levels, say heads

Universities should face financial penalties if they fail to recognise students' AS-level grades when offering places, the leader of Britain's biggest headteachers' union said yesterday.

David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, was reacting to complaints that pupils had been told their AS-level grades would make little difference to whether they were offered a university place. In an interview with The Independent, Mr Hart criticised the Government for failing "to cajole universities to bring their admission processes into the 21st century.

"We back them with large sums of money from the taxpayer and if they don't give more than a nodding acquaintance to the Government's aspirations, there ought to be some leverage that we can apply to them," he added. Heads have told him that some universities, particularly those in the Russell Group – the leading research universities including Oxford and Cambridge – are insisting offers will still be conditional on A-level results with AS grades being used only to distinguish between candidates with equal qualifications.

Mr Hart said the dilemma reminded him of a conversation with the minister of education of a foreign country who had travelled to Britain to see how some schools were tackling the introduction of the International Baccalaureate. The minister wanted to introduce the broader-based exam in his own country. "I asked him, 'Aren't you worried about whether your universities will recognises it?' He replied, 'They will have to recognise it – we fund them.' Well, we fund our universities, too."

Mr Hart's comments also follow warnings from heads that pupils taking AS-levels have been "shattered" by taking the exam this year.

Exams started on 13 May this year, earlier than last year, in effect giving them only two terms in which to cover the syllabus. Heads say many youngsters have had to opt out of character-building opportunities in sport, music and drama to fit in their exam studies.

He welcomed a comment from David Miliband, the minister for School Standards, that the time might be ripe to launch a "national debate" on secondary school reforms. Headteachers would press their case that children were "over-assessed".

A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said yesterday: "Requiring universities to make any part of the examination process compulsory for admissions would be impractical." He added that each course in each university was different in structure and demands and required a range of skills from its students.

"We encourage all universities to use AS-levels as part of their admissions criteria. They provide valuable evidence of a pupil's ability to study a broad range of subjects," the spokesman said.

Mr Hart said he believed the threat of industrial action by headteachers had receded after pledges by Mr Miliband of a "significant" increase in resources to finance reforms. "I'd say we can reach agreement on reducing working hours [for teachers and heads] because I am an eternal optimist. I can't believe we cannot turn the school teachers' review body report into a living reality." The report recommended moving towards an average working week of 45 hours for teachers within four years, guaranteed time off from teaching for marking and preparation and the employment of more classroom assistants.