ABSTRACT

This article discusses concerns raised by the Office for Students (OfS) and other policy actors regarding perceived grade inflation in undergraduate degree classifications in England. I employ a desert-based justice philosophical framework to argue that the criticisms made by the OfS can be understood in light of the position that degree classifications occupy at the intersections of two distinctive logics of desert: as retrospective in virtue of past actions; and as utilitarian future-oriented. I then draw from literature in the sociology of education and work to contend that the utilitarian desert-bases of degree classifications, which the OfS aims to safeguard, have been undermined by the shifting relationship between higher education credentials and the labour market. I suggest that criticism of grade inflation (if appropriate) finds a stronger philosophical foundation in the retrospective bases of desert than in utilitarian ones.

摘要

本文讨论了学生办公室 (OfS) 和其他政策参与者提出的关于英格兰本科学位分类中感知等级膨胀的担忧。我采用基于应得的正义哲学框架来论证，可以根据学位分类在应得的两种不同逻辑的交叉点上所占据的位置来理解 OfS 的批评：由于过去的行为而具有追溯力；并且作为功利主义面向未来。然后，我从教育和工作社会学中的文献中得出结论，OfS 旨在保护的学位分类的功利主义沙漠基础已被高等教育证书与劳动力市场之间不断变化的关系所破坏。