LSB approves Bar aptitude test

The Legal Services Board has approved the Bar's plans to introduce an aptitude test for prospective students on the Bar professional training course.

The aptitude test, which attempts to screen out the weakest candidates, has been the subject of heated debate over the last few years.

A spokesman for the Bar Standards Board welcomed the move, but said no decisions had been made about when the test would be introduced, how much it would cost or who would deliver it.

Chris Kenny, chief executive of the LSB, said in a decision notice published on the regulator's website today that the BSB had agreed to review the operation of the test after five years.

In the meantime, Kenny said, the BSB would carry out a 'data gathering' exercise, with raw data published immediately.

There would be further data collection and analysis, to be agreed with the BSB, 'focussing especially on data in relation to socio-economic background of participants as well as, of course, all other relevant and appropriate equalities strands'.

Kenny said the BSB had also agreed to consider establishing an advisory group with independent experts approved by the LSB.

In response to his requests for clarification, Kenny said the BSB had argued that there was 'evidence that some students were not achieving as high marks as they might otherwise (even if they still were meeting the required level of competence) because the presence of the weakest candidates is adversely affecting the learning environment'.

The BSB had also said the test was developed by industry experts to 'ensure there was no bias in the questions used' and the Wood review into training for the Bar had rejected the idea of raising the minimum degree classification instead of introducing an aptitude test.

Kenny said it became 'increasingly clear that many of the relevant issues are impossible to verify in absolute terms at this stage by the very fact that the test has not operated in practice, other than in limited pilot circumstances'.

He said the uncertainty had a 'material impact' on the LSB's ability to draw definite conclusions and after the five year evaluation process, both it and the BSB would be in a 'far better position to reach a more rounded assessment.'

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