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For students, and for their parents, choosing courses for the sixth form has become a complicated business. For decades, A-Levels were the obvious means of access to higher education for students in most parts of the UK. Proposed reforms to it tended to be seen as a threat to a perceived ‘gold standard’. However, recent years have witnessed significant changes to the picture. Provision is now diversified; many schools offer more than one form of sixth form programme leading to university entry. University entry itself has always depended on offers made by the institution to the applicant. These may be expressed in terms of grades or, sometimes, as more recently, points awarded on a scale that represents a common denominator for all sixth form courses of study in the UK.

A-level is no longer the model familiar to those who took it between its introduction in 1951 and 2000: it has undergone reform. A growing number of schools in this country offer the International Baccalaureate as an alternative: the UK now has more IB schools than any country in the world except the USA and Canada, a growth that has accelerated markedly since the late 1990s. This is sometimes attributed to growing dissatisfaction with certain aspects of A-level. A similar perception might be said to account for the development of the Cambridge Pre-U, which is designed to challenge and stretch the student in ways that some feel A-level, once a test for the ablest, no longer does. A-level has now struck back: for the top candidates taking A-level from summer 2010 there will be a new A* grade to aim for. Meanwhile the government has introduced an Advanced Diploma whose purpose is to provide a single coherent framework encompassing both academic and vocational qualifications.

All this means that parents contemplating sixth form options for their children have much to reflect upon. Above all, they need information.

Since the Curriculum 2000 reforms, Alevel has been a two-tier programme consisting of AS (Advanced Subsidiary) and A2. AS is worth half an A-Level and may be treated as a self-contained qualification. Most students take four or even five subjects at AS, in principle to retain breadth of learning, but reduce to three at A2. The most recent changes to A-level took effect in September 2008, when schools began teaching remodelled courses. This consists of four units in any subject, the first two making up the AS and the second two representing A2, the second year of the course. This means a reduction of two units from the A-level format of six units introduced as part of the Curriculum 2000 reforms. There will still be opportunities to take examinations on individual units of the course, or modules, in January and June of any year. The course as a whole is designed to defer the greatest challenge to the end; A2 is thus significantly more demanding than AS.

Criticisms have been levelled at A-level in recent years: notably, that the modular structure and the opportunities to retake units had made it easier to achieve higher grades. In 2008, the A-level pass rate was 97.2%, and 25.9% of examination entries gained grade A. This has led to allegations of ‘grade inflation’. The latest reforms, which include the introduction of the A, aim to stretch the ablest students, and to allow universities and employers to differentiate more easily between candidates. This new top grade will be awarded to candidates who achieve 90% in any subject at A2.

Currently, 189 UK schools and colleges offer the International Baccalaureate. My own school, Bedford School, is one. We began teaching the IB in September 2003. In world terms, only the USA and Canada have more IB students than the UK. A sharp growth has occurred over the past decade or so, at a time of increasing concern about A-level. Any assessment of the development of sixth form options in this country needs to take account of this phenomenon.

Founded in 1968, with headquarters in Geneva, the IB is an independent body, free from government interference. Its appeal derives, in part, from this autonomy, and from the immunity of its grading policy from the kind of inflation that A-level has witnessed. This was one of the factors that attracted us at Bedford when we began to investigate it in 2001. However, its greatest appeal is that it aims to promote qualities such as openmindedness, curiosity, reflectiveness, and a readiness to take risks. The IB student has to show independent thinking skills and make connections. To support this, courses do not have a modular structure. Students following the Diploma Programme take six subjects, three at higher level (these allow depth of study) and three at standard level (for breadth). It is compulsory to study one’s mother tongue (a literary course), at least one modern foreign language, at least one humanities subject, at least one natural science, mathematics, and either a creative subject (art, or music or drama) or a second subject from one of the aforementioned categories. In addition, students follow a course in Theory of Knowledge, undertake a research project (the extended essay), engage in a range of creative and active extracurricular activities, and involve themselves in activities to help others.

All subjects are graded from seven down to one and there are three additional points for Theory of Knowledge and the extended essay. A level six is generally regarded as the equivalent of an A-level grade A; level seven as exceptional. In 2008, the aggregate of 45 points was achieved by only 0.18% of candidates worldwide. This assessment system allows for refined differentiation in ways that A-level, at least before the introduction of the A*, did not. The fully rounded educational experience that this entails makes IB students attractive to universities. In an age of internationalism, not least in careers, it has the further advantage of being recognised all over the world. There remain certain UK university courses, however, that-retain a preference for A-level: for example engineering at Cambridge, which wants the heavy concentration on a specific specialist area, through maths, further maths and physics, that the IB does not provide.

If the adoption of the IB has been one response, by some schools, to a perception of the inadequacies of A-level, others – principally an elite group of independent schools – have responded by taking up the Cambridge Pre-U. Its purpose is to reward creativity and academic talent, and to allow the ablest students to show what they can do. University of Cambridge International Examinations, which has developed the Pre- U, describes it as:

• inspiring, challenging and rewarding students and preparing them for university

• reporting achievement in a way that helps universities

• enabling teachers to regain a passion for their subjects.

Like the IB, it is a linear course, terminally assessed after two years: there are no modules and no retakes along the way, a form that liberates teachers and students from the constraints of frequent assessment. Unlike the IB, it allows concentration on three ‘principal subjects’. Students also have to complete a global perspectives portfolio, covering such questions as globalisation and geopolitics, and an independent research report on a subject of their choosing. It is intended as a re-assertion of the values of the traditional A-level, preparing students for academic courses at university and encouraging them to specialise in areas of greatest strength and interest.

The Pre-U grading system emphasises its concern to reward exceptional ability. Against the A-level pass grades of A to E, Pre-U will have nine grades, three for each of three bands: distinction, merit and pass (D1 – 3, M1 – 3 and P1 – 3). The highest grade, D1, will be more challenging even than the A-level A*.

The government’s own vision for Sixth Form qualifications is the Advanced Diploma, designed to create a coherent framework that embraces both academic and vocational qualifications. It will combine theoretical and applied elements, and will consist of essential practical skills in English, mathematics and ICT alongside specialist subjects.

Of the 17 courses that are planned, ten will be available from September 2009: Business, Administration and Finance; Construction and the Built Environment; Creative and Media; Engineering; Environmental and Land-based Studies; Hair and Beauty Studies; Hospitality; Information Technology; Manufacturing and Product Design; Society, Health and Development. To these will be added diplomas in languages, humanities and science. Recently a delay – until September 2012 – was announced in the introduction of the science course because of disagreements over the constituency of the common core and in order to ensure that it provided adequate preparation for university science courses.

Indeed, there remains some uncertainty over university recognition of the Diploma. Although most higher education courses will accept it as an entry route, the content of subjects currently available will not be relevant to many courses at the more selective universities and some of the latter have expressed caution. Cambridge University has observed that of the diplomas available in the first phase, only the advanced engineering diploma would provide appropriate preparation for a Cambridge course.

Most UK schools offer A-level only; a very small number offer the IB only; we at Bedford School are among those that offer their students a choice: in our case, between A-level and IB, or, as is the case elsewhere, between A-level and Pre-U. Students and parents who are concerned to choose the right school for the final stage of their secondary career would be well advised to think carefully what their needs are. What skills do they need to acquire? What personal qualities do they wish to develop? What level of academic challenge is right for them? To what extent do they want to specialise at 16, or is a broader educational experience more appropriate for them? What kind of career are they likely to consider, and what might this imply for their choice of courses at 16?

As this article has shown, several contrasting options are now available in sixth form education in this country. To UCAS, which manages applications to UK higher education courses, falls the task of locating them all on a single scale of merit. UCAS has a points ‘tariff’ that represents a common currency against which different levels of achievement on the different programmes are accorded a points value. The tables show the points values of the different qualifications, as determined by UCAS.

A-level

Grade	Points
A*	140
A	120
B	100
C	80
D	60
E	40

AS-level

Grade	Points
A	60
B	50
C	40
D	30
E	20

Thus, a candidate who achieves grade A in three A-level subjects and one at AS will score 420 points.

International Baccalaureate

IB Score	Tariff points
45	720
44	698
43	676
42	654
41	632
40	611
39	589
38	567
37	545
36	523
35	501
34	479
33	457
32	435
31	413
30	392
29	370
28	348
27	326
26	304
25	282
24	260

A solid IB candidate scoring, say, 6-6-6-5-5-5 plus one additional point would score 34 IB points, or 479 on the UCAS tariff: a performance that would significantly outscore the A-level candidate referred to above. Our average points score at Bedford School from our four complete sets of results is 36.

Cambridge Pre-U Diploma

Grade	Principal Subject points	Global Perspectives and Research points
D1	TBC	TBC
D2	145	140
D3	130	126
M1	115	112
M2	101	98
M3	87	84
P1	73	70
P2	59	56
P3	46	42

Thus, a student attaining the second highest level in each of three subjects and the global perspectives and research component will score 575 points.

Advanced Diploma

Diploma subjects will receive the same number of UCAS points as 3.5 A-levels: (see table).

Additional and Specialist Learning
Grade	Tariff (max.)
A*	140
A	120
B	100
C	80
D	60
E	40

Even here, however, the student needs to exercise caution. Not all universities use the tariff in the same way. Offers to applicants may refer to a desired points aggregate, but they are much more likely to prescribe a minimum grade requirement, sometimes specifying the subjects in which these must be attained: AAB with an A in history; 38 IB Diploma points with 7 in chemistry and physics. As an IB school we frequently find that, in practice, universities appear to take little account of the UCAS tariff, frequently making offers to IB applicants which, in terms of the IB Diploma points aggregate demanded and the UCAS points into which they translate, go well beyond what any A-Level applicant would be able to achieve in just 3.5 subjects.

In short, we have never been more fully informed about the nature of courses and how they are assessed; the system managing university applications has never been so sophisticated; and yet there is still no substitute for personal research through visits, reading prospectuses and talking to admissions tutors.