In my home country (
Malta)
A-levels are hardly looked at once the potential employee has
graduated. However things in the U.K are different, I am finding my
poor A-level grades an impairment, even though I am currently
undertaking a MSc at a very respectable university (LSE).
I have been rejected for two “High Potential Fast Track Schemes", one based in the US and the other based in the UK.
What was really unbelievable is that they bothered phoning me,
expressing their interest in my C.V only to ask about my A-level grades
and reject me thereafter! I was rather flabbergasted.
Upon
inquiry into this strange recruiting habit I was informed that the only
way recruitment consultancies could distinguish between prospects for
such high demand roles, prospects holding degrees from top
universities Harvard, Oxford etc.., is to look beyond, the university
degree, at the A-level results.
I am
particularly affected by this for two reasons. One reason is formed of
a variety of personal factors which impaired on my performance during
my A-levels, the other is a more public concern and is the reason why I
am writing this article.
A-levels
vary in standard, and often these variations are ignored by the rather
arrogant approach the U.K educational system takes when translating
other countries standards into their own UCAS point system.
In Malta
for example, we employ the Matriculation System which consists of 2
A-level and 3 Intermediate level examinations. This would translate
into 3 English A-levels. The 3 intermediates are taken as a single
A-Level and two Maltese A-levels are made equal to two English
A-levels.
Well to any Maltese person
this conversion rate would smell a lot like a protectionist policy
focused on ensuring foreigners are at a natural disadvantage in the U.K.
There is only one public university in Malta which simply can not cope with demand. For this reason entry requirements are made tremendously high.
The
examinations are structured to impose the maximum amount of stress and
difficulty on the student. The syllabus is twice as large as the U.K
equivalent - as new theories are introduced to the subject, old ones
are not replaced and the content just keeps getting bigger, more
abstract and less relevant.
Choice in Malta
is also stifled each student is forced to study a science subject and
an extra compulsory intermediate –“Systems of Knowledge"- is also
introduced, making the total amount of intermediates 4 (3.1/3 English
A-levels?). A-levels in Malta
are a bit of a nightmare, and if a student averages at a C they would
be considered to have done well. An A average is unheard of.
How
could such a system be equivalent to the system in the U.K where
a-levels are split into 2 separate parts, AS1 and AS2 level, in order
to reduce examination stress, and where the average seems to be B!!
The
real problem is not only that the U.K is badly translating grades but
more that the Maltese standards are too high and uncompetitive, they
despiratly need to be modernised in the advent of European union
membership.
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