Universities` admissions

Will Hutton asks whether the Labour party is "thinking big thoughts", and proceeds to outline a number of quite feasible ideas it should be discussing during its online conference (If the Labour conference were on now, would I be knocked over by a rush of ideas? 20.09.20). One strange omission, however, especially in view of the many positions Hutton has held in British universities, was education. With the recent shambles over external examinations, and a "campaign to end GCSEs" about to be launched, it certainly is an appropriate time to consider whether there would be far less mental health issues amongst our young people if teacher assessment, with a moderating role for exam boards, was to be adopted on a permanent basis (Schools make bid to kill off GCSEs, 20.09.20). Indeed, the arrival of the second wave of the coronavirus and the probability of examination cancellation again, make such discussion an urgent priority. As Hutton knows very well, the admission procedures of our universities are both outdated and biased, and reforms are essential if the country is not to continue to waste genuine talent. The only examination grades deemed acceptable for university academic places should be A-levels, the exams described by Ofqual as "national qualifications with content set by government". This would mean private schools would no longer be able to sidestep the highly regulated A-levels, by entering pupils for Pre-U exams, with their very high proportion of A*/A grades. Pupils from underprivileged backgrounds and understaffed state schools would also benefit from contextual information being taken into consideration when places are offered. "Best get started", as Hutton says, is good advice for Labour, but to omit education from its agenda most certainly was not!