AlphaMED Resources · https://alphamedicine.uk/Resources/glossary/polar-tundra
POLAR4 vs TUNDRA
POLAR4 and TUNDRA are two Office for Students measures of university participation by area. TUNDRA counts only pupils at state funded mainstream schools in England, and POLAR4 is the older measure that will not be updated.
Summary
- POLAR is the Office for Students measure of the participation of local areas, and the Office for Students says there will be no POLAR5.
- TUNDRA sorts local areas across England into five equal groups by how many young people go into higher education.
- TUNDRA focuses on pupils in state funded mainstream schools, excluding those at independent schools.
- Where an area measure is needed, the Office for Students recommends TUNDRA.
- Medical schools use area data alongside other information in contextual admissions, because contextual admissions work best with individual, school and area level data.
Sources
- Office for Studentsofficeforstudents.org.uk/…/polar-participation-of-local-areas
- Office for Studentsofficeforstudents.org.uk/…/about-tundra
- Office for Studentsofficeforstudents.org.uk/…/young-participation-by-area
- Medical Schools Councilmedschools.ac.uk/…/indicators-of-good-practice-in-contextual-admissions
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