Is it fair that teachers will be deciding this year’s GCSEs and A-level grades?

TEACHERS are professional and highly qualified, so they won’t let negative feelings towards individual pupils muddy the water when it comes to deciding grades. After all, the grades will be ratified by head teachers.

PHILIP MUNRO, Manchester. I LOVE the idea of teachers handing out GCSE grades. However, they will need to keep their heads down on results day and shield themselves from the wrath of over-expectant parents.

AMALIA RENNIE, Chester. MY PRIMARY headmaster told my parents there was no point in me or my twin sitting the 11-plus. He rudely said: ‘They show no aptitude to better themselves.’ My brother became the chief superintendent of police in Canberra, Australia, and I was in charge of three labs. ROSEMARIE WEBSTER,

Windsor, Berks. IT’S an excellent idea that teachers will decide grades. It is for pupils to show their expertise in course work, mock exams and approach to learning. I always went to pieces in exams and left

school with just one O-level, but went on to become a director for a major worldwide manufacturer. MARTYN HARRIS, Macclesfield, Cheshire. IF I were a teacher, to avoid the stress of having my grading questioned, I would give all my pupils pass marks.

IAN HARRINGTON, Axminster, Devon. TEACHERS should not be allowed to decide exam results. Invariably, they are Left-wing, making them likely to be liberal with grades, and have a vested interest in their school’s standing in league tables.

STEFAN BADHAM, Portsmouth, Hants. AFTER last year’s blame game when ridiculous results were handed out, we were treated to the faux anger of teachers’ unions. But this year, if universities decide students have been over-marked, the unions will blame the Government. JOHN BOWYER, Lincoln.

TEACHER assessments: Objective or subjective? Discuss.

DANIAL RANGE, Halifax, W. Yorks. MY PARENTS were told by my headmistress that she couldn’t understand how I’d passed the 11-plus because she considered that I ‘wasn’t even trying’. If it had been a teacher assessment, I would have been failed.

KEN KERR, Birkenhead, Wirral. ASSESSMENTS will not be reliant on one teacher, but will be a consensus agreed by form tutors, year heads, subject teachers, heads of departments and other trained staff. Don’t knock teachers who have been doing a sterling job and would rather not have deciding exam grades added to their workload.

G. A. CARE, Grendon, Northants. EMPLOYERS will be sceptical of these results. Schools should teach timekeeping and manners to benefit youngsters in their working life.

ADRIAN BUTTREE, Ossett, W. Yorks. TEACHERS already carry out continuous assessment. To say they may show favouritism is unfair. A. YOUNG, Gloucester.