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With the giant graduate recruiter PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) announcing they were renouncing A-levels as a primary method of selection for graduates, it has raised the question: should A-level qualifications be placed on job applications at all?

The firm claims that A-level attainment results are a “yardstick” for social division and therefore have no place on their applications.

Outdated A-level results

PwC state that individuals from privileged background often achieve higher grades than those who are not and in order to be considered an “equal and representative” business, A-levels are not necessary on their job applications.

The accountancy firm also claim that A-levels are not only “socially divisive” but also “outdated” because they are studied a good three to four years prior to applying for graduate jobs.

On this note the company states that the interests and passions the individual may have had three to four years ago are not representative of whom they are now; meaning they are not “a good measure of what a person can do”.

The counter argument

However, while PwC have clearly stated their thoughts on the matter of the decline in value of A-level qualifications when it comes to securing a graduate job, The Telegraph’s Eleanor Doughty has fought this opinion tooth and nail.

Doughty argues that without A-levels, students would not have the ability to secure a place at university in the first place.

“To get a ‘top’ degree, you generally have to get ‘top’ grades at school,” she said.

Doughty goes further to state that if A-levels are not to be used on job applications; then why are degree results?

“It is an academic qualification after all, and if you’re going to discriminate on the grounds of academic results at 18, why not at graduate age?” she said.