EXAMS

They want to continue with the existing GCSE system in spite of a recent damning report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which stated that ‘‘there has been no educational improvement in the UK’’ even though grades have improved year after year ever since 1988 when the GCSE exam was introduced by the Tories.

Three times as many A* grades were awarded this year than ten years ago.

Employers have been taking on 16-year-olds with poor abilities in English and maths even though they often have good grades.

And the universities have been flooded with applicants who have excellent A-level grades but still had to attend remedial courses before they were allowed to start their degree courses.

Mr Gove’s plans for tougher exams need more thought and there must be no question of what Labour describe as ‘“frantic churning out of facts in a three hour exam at the end of the course”.

Tough exams are needed which will result in only a small minority, say ten per cent, achieving the top grades so that the brightest pupils can be identified. That will mean a spread of grades right across all pupils from top to bottom.

We simply must stop moving towards a situation where more and more pupils achieve better and better grades because they are easier to achieve.

If that trend continued, we would end up like Alice in Wonderland where the Mad Hatter invited people to attend his tea party saying there will be competitions and ‘“all must have prizes”.

Jim Allan, Hartlepool .