Industry News

Universities forced to teach 'basic skills'

Posted on 17th August 2007

A former chief inspector of schools has said A-levels do not teach students the skills they need to face university.

In an interview with the Times, Sir Mike Tomlinson claimed universities were being forced to put on extra classes to bring students up to the required standard.

This follows an investigation by the newspaper in which it contacted over 100 universities. It found 26 of the 47 universities which responded now teach essay-writing skills.

Professor Jonathan Wolff, head of philosophy at University College London, claimed the popularity of essay-writing classes should not provoke the assumption the students cannot write.

Writing in the Guardian, he suggested universities could be finally dealing with a problem which has always existed, or that the amount of students where English is not the first language has increased.

However, schools minister Jim Knight acknowledged there was a problem in an interview with the Times and said it was partly because of an increase in students from deprived backgrounds.