NUT attacks heads for A-level protests

Britain's biggest teaching union accused headteachers of undermining public confidence in A-level exams and described them yesterday as "irresponsible" and a "greater danger" to young people's futures than any "incompetent" examination board.

The headteachers, representing state and independent schools, presented their dossier of "bizarre exam results" to the inquiry into A-level marking, claiming they had evidence that the Government's own watchdog was involved in fixing grades.

They told Mike Tomlinson, the former chief schools inspector who is conducting the independent inquiry for the Government, that they believed the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority was involved in downgrading candidates to counter accusations that the exam was too easy.

John Bangs, head of education at the National Union of Teachers, called for the headteachers to drop their attacks on A-levels.

He claimed that the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, apparently supported by the National Association of Head Teachers and the Secondary Heads Association, "are colluding in undermining the confidence of young people, parents and the public as a whole in the entire post-16 examination system.

"This view is totally irresponsible and if sustained will blight the futures of young people in the next few years in ways which will make the current controversy pale into insignificance," he added.

Sir William Stubbs, the QCA's chairman, has asked that Mr Tomlinson's remaining hearings should be held in public to prevent claims that the authority was hiding anything from the inquiry.

The SHA, the NAHT, the Girls Schools Association and the HMC, have collected statements from senior examiners who described the intense pressure they were under from the QCA to avoid accusations of dumbing down.

All three of Britain's main exam boards, AQA, Edexcel, and OCR, the board at the centre of the complaints, have agreed to waive examiners' confidentiality agreements to allow them to give evidence.

David Hart, general secretary of the NAHT, said he had advised Mr Tomlinson to extend the re-marking deadline to give any candidate who believed they had been unfairly treated time to appeal.

Exam boards have insisted their marking is fair and the QCA has repeatedly denied pressuring the boards to change the results.