Sixth form cert, “unrecognised”

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34022, 11 December 1975, Page 12

Sixth form cert, “unrecognised”

Many employers are adopting a bewildered attitude to the Sixth Form Certificate, which was specially designed to provide a better guide to the abilities of thousands of school leavers. Wedded firmly to the belief that School Certificate and University Entrance are still the only “respectable” qualifications, employers are slow to accept the SixthForm Certificate, which has become the standard qualification after a year’s study in the sixth form. The certificate, which is internally assessed by schools, gives a grading from one to nine, in up to six subjects chosen by pupils as their course for the. sixth form. The lower the number graded for each subject, the higher! is the schools’ assessment of! pupil ability, based, not onj one examination, but on the! years work.

Unlike a university entrance qualification which has been accredited, the Sixth-Form Certificate shows a profile of the pupil. What it does not show, but what is inherent in assessment for the certificate, is a pupil’s personal characteristcs of reliability, initiative and attitudes to others.

The certificate is a general leaving qualification, intended to serve the needs of the sixth-form pupil who does

not Intend to go on immediately to university. Because of this, it is a more realistic qualification, for it takes account of as many as 70 choices of subjects, compared with 21 offered for University Entrance courses, w’hich are specifically designed with university in mind. Many employers are still sceptical of the term “internal assessment,” but since accrediting for University Entrance was introduced in 1945, this qualification has been “internally assessed,” and it does not provide the information on school leavers which the Sixth-Form Certificate sets out to do. The main advantage of the Sixth-Form Certificate fori pupils is the wide choice of subjects offered and the care-i ful control exercised by the Department of Education on I these subjects.

. Sixth formers can choose I such widely varying subjects as business studies, secretarial studies, physical education, industrial technology, computer studies, engineering, political studies and horticulture as well as the more traditional subjects offered for University Entrance. Using the criteria for the Sixth-Form Certificate, aimed at providing a true profile of pupil ability, each school has the responsibility, and now the freedom, to design courses for sixth formers which are more relevant to the needs

our education reporter) of the community that th< school must serve. The success of the certificate, as judged by schools, is such that serious proposals are being considered to make

the University Entranct qualification one which shoult be pursued in the seventr form because most prosper tive University students an drawn from this level of tht school. Those attaining superior gradings in the Sixth-Fom Certificate of less than 12 fo

ufour subjects will, however, | be able to use these to gam uentry to university next -ear • ion the new standard tertian.’ ’student bursar”. But such a ■ move is not expected to be popular, as a year in the seventh form is general!” ( regarded as a pre-requisite for ■ university entry.