Mike Tomlinson: Should A-levels be the basis for higher education

From a speech by the A-level inquiry chairman to the annual conference of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority

We have much to do to help the public at large to understand the examining process. It has become more transparent in recent times, but we must remember that transparency should not be assumed to equate to understanding.

Compared with the A-levels of some 30 or so years ago, when they were almost exclusively concerned with providing higher education with a means of selecting students for degree courses and were taken by a relatively small proportion of the cohort, things have changed. Quite properly we now want mass participation in post-16 education. Many students (currently the majority) do not proceed to university.

Can a single "system" meet the two demands: one to provide universities with the information they need, and two, to certificate a wide range of achievement much of which will not lead to higher education immediately?

We have to consider seriously whether actual A-level results should be the basis for higher education entry, rather than predicted grades being the basis for a provisional offer.