Grading Pupils

Sir - Proof of the low level of academic rigour in modern exams comes from a government advisory body. The National Academic Recognition Information Centre sets out to compare British qualifications with overseas ones.

NARIC compared the A-level and the Hong Kong equivalent, the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination. It rated an A grade as equivalent to a C grade in the Hong Kong system. It also reported that over 20 per cent of British students will receive an A grade, compared with less than one per cent in Hong Kong. The conclusion must be that most British school-leavers could not actually get into the Hong Kong university system.

Sir - You report (December 1) that Reform, the think tank, recommends that all examination syllabuses be taken out of government hands and be controlled by university departments.

An alternative to university departments running exams, according to their own agendas, is for schools to take the International Baccalaureate, an exam board which is independent of any government, and has experienced no grade inflation for 40 years.

My school, in addition to offering the IB in the sixth form, is now offering the IB's middle years programme as an alternative to GCSE and IGCSE, less because we favour a broader curriculum than because we want to see genuine intellectual rigour and pupil imagination return to the classroom.

Letters to the Editor from The Daily Telegraph - Wednesday 2nd December 2009