The Problem of Educational Levels, Part II: A New Framework for Credit Accumulation in Higher Education

Abstract

(This paper is the sequel to a paper published in the previous issue of the Journal.) There is a fundamental confusion in the categories currently used to present notions of educational levels. These categories are derived from a grading hierarchy, but are used to describe differences between staged educational awards. Empirical data from a recent survey of assessment categories suggests that we use the same categories to assess A level, undergraduate, and postgraduate work. However, it also appears that these three stages can nevertheless be differentiated, not in terms of cognitive function, however, but in terms of the developing social role of the learner and their work. In the light of this argument, a new model for credit accumulation in higher education is proposed.