U.E. Board plans seventh form exam, assessment

Press, 1 July 1985, Page 8

U.E. Board plans seventh form exam, assessment

PA Wellington The Universities Entrance Board has come up with a proposal for a national seventh form examination, with a large internal assessment component, to decide who qualifies to go to university. The scheme would replace the present University Entrance examination as the formal qualification for entrance to university. From the end of this year, U.E. will no longer exist. The proposed seventh form examination would also be used as the basis for awarding bursaries and scholarships. At present, students gain U.E. in the sixth form, then sit separate bursary and scholarship examinations the next year. The board has already approved a provisional en-

try procedure to allow sixth formers, who from next year will have no U.E. qualification, to apply for entrance to university. However, most students wanting to study at university do so from the seventh form.

A discussion paper produced by the board’s working party says that those students should complete their seventh form year qualified to enter university. “This at once suggests that the board should play a leading role in developing the syllabuses for approved form seven courses and also suggests that any qualification standard that it seeks to establish is within the reach of that majority,” it says.

The paper suggests the national examination could be sat at the end of October, with school marks being

added later, and the final results available in December.

The results would be presented as a range of grades for each subject, with an “appropriate collection of grades” securing an entrance qualification. The long-term aim would be to move to an achieve-ment-based method of assessment rather than simply ranking students on performance. The paper says the system would allow a significant proportion of the final mark to be assessed by the school.

“This is a development the working party believes the board should immediately encourage,” it says. The paper has been given to the committee of inquiry into senior school assessment, and circulated to schools and other interested groups for discussion.