Exams

It is obvious that grade inflation is rampant and that this trend is eroding the credibility of GCSE qualifications.

I disagree with Dowson Bywell (HAS, Sept 21) when he says that all subjects should have the same academic status.

This surely cannot apply over a wide range of subjects and pupil aptitude.

Previously, the original Olevels were aimed at the most academically gifted 20 per cent of pupils who were expected to go on to university.

It does not follow that the remaining 80 per cent were failures – simply that they went on to other forms of further education.

It was the introduction of the comprehensive school system that decreed everyone should go into further education, no matter how socially useless this might be.

Not everyone can be a nuclear scientist. We need skilled tradesmen and it’s an indictment of this country that such people are labelled as failures.

At school I had two colleagues, one who gained 90 per cent science marks with little effort and one who struggled academically.

The former became a GP, while the latter was a gardener – but both have enjoyed fulfilling careers.

VJ Connor, Bishop Auckland

LABOUR politicians are criticising Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, for saying that GCSEs will be replaced by a more difficult exam system.

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