A-Level Subject Choice, Systematic Bias and University Performance in the UK: The Case of Accounting

Abstract

British students from lower socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to attend non-selective state schools and are therefore more likely to take a wider variety of A-level subjects including applied disciplines such as Accounting. This is attributed to the performative pressure subjected by school league tables that incentivise schools to encourage students to select subjects that will yield the highest grades. However, many leading universities have restricted the chances of applicants holding particular combinations of A-level subjects that, in some cases, include Accounting. Interviews held within a large English university reveal that few students are aware of such restrictions, whilst corresponding quantitative data indicates that students who enter university with two or more restricted A-level subjects perform no differently on average than other students. Those entering university with an Accounting A-level, however, perform, better in their first year but exhibit lower degree performance, on average, by the end of their studies.

Keywords:

• Accounting education
• A-level subject choice
• social mobility
• Accounting academic performance

Acknowledgments

I gratefully acknowledge the able data collation assistance of Ms Shavie Manku, and the constructive comments during the development of the paper from UoB colleagues in the Schools of Education and Business, BAFA Accounting Education conference participants, AE reviewers and editors.

Notes

See Fee et al. (2010) for an overview of post-compulsory education in the UK.

Although the University of Cambridge and the LSE are transparent exceptions.

The Russell Group claims to represent 24 of the largest universities in the UK (see http://www.russellgroup.ac.uk/home/).

Assuming that students take four A-levels, one can extrapolate that 17% of UK university students hold an A-level in Accounting, Law or Business Studies.

General Certificate of Secondary Education exams that are normally taken prior to A-levels at age 16.

The complete list of non-preferred subject combinations was: Applied Art and Design, Applied Business, Applied ICT, Applied Leisure Studies, Applied Science, Applied Travel & Tourism, Art & Design, Dance, Design & Technology, Engineering, Health & Social Care, Home Economics, Leisure Studies, Media, Moving Image Arts, Performing Arts, Performance Studies and Travel & Tourism.

The ‘tariff point’ score is commonly used as a device for quantifying A-level grades for university admission in the UK (A = 120 points, B = 100 points, C = 80 points, D = 60 points, E = 40 points). In line with the majority of university admission requirements, non-subject specialist A-levels are excluded (e.g. General Studies).

For the models investigating final-year degree performance (model 1 and 2), only year 1 average is used to represent prior university performance, because 25% of the year 2 average forms part of the overall average. For the models investigating final-year accounting performance (model 5 and 6), only year 2 is used to represent prior university performance because it is strongly correlated with performance in year 1.

Ethical approval was granted by the university, and ethical consent forms were signed by all interviewees prior to participation.

No ‘high’ bivariate correlations (interpreted as > 0.4) are found between explanatory variables that can indicate the presence of multicollinearity, which can distort the estimation of regression coefficients. The calculation of Variance Inflation Factors ranging between 1.016 and 1.139 (all significantly below a threshold of 5) also indicate that the results are not distorted by multicollinearity.

No significant differences were found in the results after substituting final-year core management accounting performance for final-year financial accounting performance.

The year 1 financial accounting module contributes one-sixth (20 of 120 credits) to the year 1 average.

The potential for systematic bias against students from lower socio-economic backgrounds may be exacerbated by other claims that the current university admissions system in the UK provides an unfair advantage to students from selective schools (see UCAS, 2011).