In his latest report on social mobility, Alan Milburn suggests that universities are failing to spot academic potential among applicants from underprivileged backgrounds. Yet even institutions with the same outlook as Mr Milburn struggle on this front, thanks to an examinations system that has consistently failed to highlight that potential.
The arguments over assessment in GCSEs and A levels are nothing new. What to examine, and how, have been debated by teachers, academics and politicians for decades. Every time we think we have the answer, something happens to suggest we do not. And yet for all our experience and expertise, here we are again heading for a reform of examinations which is deficient in every sense.
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