Clarke v. Clark
Ross Clark is wrong to assert that the government exerts any influence over the value ascribed to exams in school performance tables (‘Lies, damned lies and education’, 20 November). He does a gross disservice to the pupils and teachers whose attainment he seeks to belittle.
The regulatory authority for public examinations — the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) — is responsible for the maintenance of examination standards. Its extensive programme to monitor standards over time does not support the contention that there has been a lowering of GCSE standards.
It is the QCA, not the government, which established and consistently maintained its judgment that six-unit GNVQs are deemed to be the equivalent of four GCSEs. Achievement in these qualifications is legitimately counted on this basis. To describe the qualification as training in how to use Microsoft Windows is nonsense — success requires problem-solving and the application of a range of skills in a variety of contexts.
The Ninestiles story is a remarkable one. Its last Ofsted report described the quality of teaching in the school as outstanding. Let’s celebrate excellence in our education.
Charles Clarke
Department for Education and Skills, London SW1
The class of ’98
Jonathan Osborne (Letters, 4 December) misses the point of the 1898 exam paper, in dismissing it for teaching such outdated skills as the ‘ability to translate Latin into English, identify genitive plurals, multiply pounds, shillings and pence or manipulate fractions’. These exercises, at the very least, teach precision and accuracy of expression and thought; and that is exactly what most modern education fails to do.
Sheridan Gilley
University of Durham, County Durham
The UK’s Wild West
The rosy illusion of prosperity in urban Ulster for which Leo McKinstry (‘Ulster is all right’, 4 December) seems to have fallen is founded on a bloated and bloody-minded state sector which has exploited both direct rule and devolution to enrich itself.
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