Low marks, teachers!

I CAN’T believe that grade boundaries for top marks at A-level have been set low to compensate for poor performance caused by teachers not being familiar with the new, more challenging courses.

It is a teacher’s responsibility to know their subject and to familiarise themselves with any changes. In this case, the subject remains the same, only the format has changed.

In 1993, the management at the college where I was teaching decided in the summer holidays that it was ditching BTEC courses in favour of the new GNVQ qualification, which merged travel and tourism and leisure and sport. everything was different, including the subject and the assessment.

I started teaching in September with some of the subject units and assessment procedures not yet written by the awarding bodies. It was a shambles but I was determined my students would not suffer. What I most certainly did not get was any compensation from the awarding body or the college management.

SALLY BUTLER, Rustington, W. Sussex.