Schools should take particular care to “consider context” when selecting students for A levels in science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) subjects, experts have urged.
The call comes as findings show Stem subjects are far more popular with students achieving high grades at GCSE, attributed partly to schools setting tough entry requirements.
For example, 58 per cent of GCSE “high attainers” went on to study maths A level in 2019, compared with 13 per cent of all key stage 4 students.
This is a far bigger gap than for other subjects such as English literature, psychology and geography, the FFT Education Datalab research found.
FFT statistician, Natasha Plaister, said the reason that Stem subjects are much more popular among higher attainers could be due to schools setting higher entry requirements.
Some schools may be more likely to require a grade 7 or above in the relevant subject at GCSE, which “may mean that lower-attaining students who would be interested in pursuing Stem subjects at A level are unable to do so”, she added.
Approached by Tes about the research, Carl Cullinane, director of research and policy at the Sutton Trust, said it showed the need for schools to take students’ potential into account, not just their GCSE grades.
He said: ”Schools should consider context when selecting students for A-level subjects, thinking about a young person’s potential, as well their grades, to recognise that there isn’t a level playing field.”
He said it was important for students from “all backgrounds” to have access to Stem subjects.
He also said it was important to widen access to triple science at GCSE level “to ensure young people from certain areas aren’t locked out of Stem from an early age.”
Maths: Grade 7 ‘provides certainty’
Do some subjects require higher GCSE grades because they are particularly tough to study at A level?
David Miles, chair of the Teaching Committee at the Mathematical Association, suggested this could be the case for maths.
He said: “The prevailing wisdom is that GCSE grade 7 affords some certainty that students have demonstrated a reasonable degree of fluency with the topics necessary for progression.”
He said this could not change ”without a significant reform of KS4 assessment and there is no appetite for that right now”.
“Having a high bar for entry has not prevented maths from becoming the most popular A-level subject,” he added.
And Dr Robin Bevan, headteacher of Southend High School for Boys grammar school, said that the “problem” with contextual entry requirements for sixth form is that school admissions “have to be conducted on an objective basis”.
For example, he said, you cannot have A-level admissions criteria that “differ” according to the school a student has attended.
He asked how it was possible to “make a fair and appropriate judgement” that “remains objective, and where you can’t be subsequently accused of some kind of bias one way or the other”.
‘Too many schools look for top grades’
But Jonny Uttley, CEO of The Education Alliance Trust, thinks context should “absolutely” be taken into consideration for A-level entry.
“The only criteria that there should be is that a student should be allowed to access any course where they have a reasonable chance of success statistically with the GCSE grade that they have,” he said.
He added that “too many schools” have set “highly selective entry criteria” for certain subjects with what seems to be an intention of “maximising top grades”.
“It is one of the biggest ethical issues in the system,” he said.
Covid: A-level entry eased
And some schools have already eased their A-level entry requirements due to the impact of lost learning during the pandemic.
This includes Wales High School in Rotherham, which reviewed its entry requirements for A levels two years ago in the face of Covid.
Headteacher Pepe Di’Iasio said that these requirements have been “eased” in order to “allow those students that have more difficulties in the last three years” of the pandemic.
While his school does list provisional entry requirements on its website, he said they are not a “hard and fast entry requirement” and “there is always a context and we interview all our students”.
He added: “There might have been a valid reason why they’ve done less well, or they’re predicted to do less well.”
