The whole thrust of government policy for higher education since 1992 has been based on quantifying and assessing standards in research and teaching. It is, in essence, a solution to a problem created by successive government education policies.
2.
All students (certainly in the 60's and early 70's) received tuition fees and in addition a means-tested (non-repayable) grant was available for those students whose parents were on low income. Therefore, the only barrier to a university education was the entry requirements set by the universities.
3.
The transfer test is in some respects the equivalent of the old 11-plus test in that for the majority of students in N Ireland it determines whether they will receive their post primary education at a grammar school. It should be noted that both types of school provide courses based on the same core curriculum. The debate took a dramatic turn when the Education Minister on the last day of the current assembly apparently rejected the outcome of a referendum and announced that the transfer test would not continue from 2004.
4.
I suspect that the system was dreamed up by an accountant, since 3×15 = 45 which leaves 7 free weeks in a year for holidays and administration. Indeed some university departments in order to balance their budget are operating a 3-“semester” system. So much for research and the acquisition of knowledge!.
5.
Further information on the Dearing report and the various responses to this report can be found on the web.
6.
The term AS in this new structure means Advanced Subsidiary and should not be confused with the old AS-Level (Advance Supplementary) which did not lead on to a full A- Level award. In practical terms both awards can be equated to a half A-level.
7.
It is interesting to note that A- Level chemistry, for example, will provide all 3 Key Skills but A- Level mathematics would not provide the Key Skill application of number! In theory, key skills are integrated into a particular subject and should entail little extra work on the part of the pupil. However, this does not appear to be the practice. All students are provided with a 70mm lever arch folder containing basic (!) information and are expected to do things like produce scale models of cells in biology or write extended essays. Since only a few universities use key skills in their selection procedure, for most sixth form pupils, the amount of time spent trying to produce this additional material cannot be justified.
8.
Sixth- form school modules are of a much shorter duration than university modules.
9.
For sixth formers, with shorter modules, my personal observation is that this use of short-term memory is a survival mechanism (implicitly) advocated by many teachers and adopted by many students.
10.
That is all sixth form AS and A2 courses and an increasing number of university courses.
11.
Teacher/lecturer will simply be referred to as teacher in the following.
12.
Local Government Training Board (1989), New Management Trends, Luton; Local Government Training Board, p42.
13.
This is not a cynical view but the result of questioning many students at a number of different universities in the British Isles.
14.
If all degrees are the same then it might be expected that a university with lower intake requirements might have more drop-outs and award fewer degrees at the higher levels.
15.
Based on the frequency at which new initiatives arrive even a module-based sampling rate is too slow!.
