Letters: The exam furore is damaging pupils’ confidence in their achievements

SIR – As a former headmaster and current vice chancellor, I am becoming increasingly alarmed by how young people’s achievements, in their A-level results last week and GCSE results this week, are being questioned.

The longer the political furore continues, and the longer the validity of centre assessment grades is disputed, the less the young will believe in the value of their results.

I know from my own experience how much self-confidence is gained through achieving good grades in exams. We are in danger of producing a cohort of young people who lack that confidence.

Sir Anthony Seldon
Vice Chancellor
University of Buckingham

SIR –  Because of the change in the way GCSEs were awarded, pupils have received higher grades than normal, as teachers have a natural tendency to overestimate their students’ standards.

And this in a year when you would have expected to see lower grades because much less teaching has been done.

Professor Arthur Morris
Helensburgh, Argyll

SIR – I congratulate every student who received results yesterday.

We now need to halt the language of “inflation”, which suggests that teachers sat around blowing hot air into balloons, making up grades on a whim. No. Centres approached the process with gravity. We weighed up all the data, as well as our detailed knowledge of students. Our expertise and integrity, and their hard work, must not be undermined.

Sarah Raffray
Head teacher, St Augustine’s Priory
London W5

SIR – In the days of assessment by examinations alone, I achieved by a number of fluke A-level results just sufficient to obtain a university place. For me, this was the wrong path, and led to unfortunate consequences. I was lucky: I eventually arrived at the right destination, but it might not have ended so well.

Inflated grades, whatever the reason for them, are not necessarily in students’ best interests.

John Smallwood
West Auckland, Co Durham

SIR – Spare a thought for those pupils who, if they’d been able to sit their exams, would have got higher grades than their teachers predicted.

Every year there are a few who have been underrated and unsung by their teachers – the shy, quiet ones who don’t believe in themselves. Many of them have a shining moment of self-realisation in August, when they open that envelope.

This year, those students have not had the chance to experience that moment. I hope it dawns on them not too much later in life.

Annabel Partridge
Farringdon, Hampshire

Elusive GPs

SIR – My sister, a retired nurse, is caring for her husband, who has motor neurone disease, her mother, who has Alzheimer’s disease, and my frail 94-year-old father.

Last week, the hot weather exacerbated my brother-in-law’s breathing difficulties, prompting my sister to request a home visit from her GP. She was concerned that her husband might require antibiotics for a possible chest infection. During the 10 years that he has suffered from this awful disease, she has never called out her doctor.

Having battled through the brick wall of triaging receptionists and nurses, she was eventually called by her doctor. She was told a home visit would not be possible because he lacked personal protective equipment.

I found this response completely unacceptable. Just what is going on in GP surgeries? No face-to-face appointments, no referrals for life-limiting illnesses – and no PPE.

Eve McLeish
Hythe, Kent

Green case for paper

SIR – I note that, in the debate over shopping bags, the well-worn propaganda against paper is being reiterated (report, August 17).

Paper is not made by cutting down forests at random: the trees used have been planted specifically for that purpose. And what about all the good effects of growing trees, which absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen?

A J Butcher
Market Harborough, Leicestershire

SIR – I use string bags, which stretch to contain vast amounts of shopping. They are also washable and fold into nothing. Foolproof.

Mary Owen
Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire

Never without a mug

SIR – Seeing Gavin Williamson pictured on your front page (August 18) clutching a mug made me wonder: what is this obsession with drinking in public? I have seen many other photos of people entering No 10 holding similar containers.

I was brought up to eat and drink at mealtimes, sitting at the table. One might have made an exception on hot days, but leaving home bearing a canteen of liquid was unheard of – unless one was stepping in to the Sahara desert.

James Gibson
Quorn, Leicestershire

Stronger leadership

SIR – This country is floundering. As you point out in your Leading Article (August 19), only about 33 per cent of white-collar workers are back at their desks, and our once-vibrant capital is in danger of turning into a ghost town.

We need positive messages from our Government, along with confidence and true leadership – but it doesn’t appear to be listening.

Silvia Nesbitt
London W13

SIR – While I agree with Geoffrey Wyartt (Letters, August 20) that a Corbyn administration would not have done a better job of governing Britain over the past few months, I do not see this as a valid excuse for the atrocious performance of Boris Johnson’s team.

What a sad indictment of a once- great political party that its senior politicians are merely the least-worst option available to us.

John Waine
Nuneaton, Warwickshire

SIR – I note with chagrin that Baroness Dido Harding will be head of the new quango that replaces Public Health England (report, August 17), despite, like Matt Hancock, having no scientific experience or qualifications (both studied PPE at Oxford).

As yet another senior Tory with no in-depth scientific understanding of the problems we face, she is unlikely to be able to do the job required.

When will the Government realise that without suitably qualified leaders, its departments will simply make the same mistakes that we have witnessed over the past six months?

Richard Field
Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire

Languishing in care

SIR – Much has been said about the lockdown of care homes to protect their residents (Letters, August 20), but to what end?

My 100-year-old mother had no visitors for months until we were recently allowed a socially distanced half-hour once a week.

The results are heartbreaking: she has gone from being an amazingly lucid old lady to a demented one living in a fantasy world. I wonder how many others have suffered, or will suffer, the same tragic consequences in the name of keeping them safe.

Adrian Waller
Woodsetts, South Yorkshire

Lightweight passports

SIR – The passports we recently renewed are indeed black not blue (Letters, August 20).

They are also incredibly flimsy, and I cannot see them being fit for purpose for regular travellers. Perhaps the Government foresaw that people wouldn’t be needing them very often.

Jane Ferguson
West Hill, Devon

SIR – Am I alone in thinking the old passport was black not blue?

Alan Sabatini
Bournemouth, Hampshire

Vintage sardines

SIR – Like Chris Drew (Letters, August 19), I remember visiting my company’s advertising agency in the Sixties when it was pitching for a Portuguese sardine producer's account.

Instead of a long liquid lunch (as was usual), we took part in a sardine tasting, ranging from one to 50 years in age. I recall them trying to convince me of the supremacy of the 1920 vintage (a tin of purée) over the 1969 (which I would at least put on toast).

Robert Mizen
Holt, Wiltshire

Harnessing the health-giving power of honey

SIR – I am delighted that scientists have confirmed that honey can be used to combat the curses of winter: colds and coughs (report, August 19).

In the interests of humanity, may I pass on the recipe that has been handed down through generations of my family, and which has never failed to fight off illness?

Precision is important. Take a tumbler and in this order place: a hefty slop of orange juice, a generous dram (or two) of whisky, a large spoonful of honey and, finally, a drop of hot water.

Take this elixir to bed to guarantee a good night’s sleep and awake cured in the morning. You may have to repeat as desired – for medicinal purposes only.

Ron Giddens
Caterham, Surrey

Helping young adults escape the cycle of crime

SIR – Last year, more than 50,000 cautions or convictions were handed to 18- to 25-year-olds for low-level and non-violent crimes, such as theft.

In later life these minor offences dominate the criminal records of adults; people who repeatedly offend now account for nearly 40 per cent of all offenders. Behind these numbers lies misery – a revolving door of crisis and crime that destroys lives, families and communities.

These offences are driven by persistent poverty and profound trauma, but they are preventable. A smarter criminal justice system would intervene earlier, giving young adults hope of a good life.

The preventative measures taken by police and youth offending teams have shown what is possible, reducing the number of children entering the criminal justice system to the lowest levels on record. We can do the same for young adults.

We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to stop the cycle of crisis and crime. That is why our coalition – led by the Revolving Doors Agency and our patron, Lord Patel of Bradford – has committed itself to taking action in order to prevent young adults being pulled into this cycle, and to divert them towards a better life.

Nathan Dick
Head of Policy, Revolving Doors Agency
Lord Patel of Bradford
Chief Constable Jo Shiner
National policing lead for children and young people
Professor Loraine Gelsthorpe
Director, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge
Kathryn Holloway
Police and Crime Commissioner for Bedfordshire
Anne Fox
Chief Executive, Clinks
Duncan Shrubsole
Criminal justice lead for Lloyds Bank Foundation
Deputy Chief Constable Sara Glen
Former national policing lead for children and young people
John Smith
Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Avon and Somerset
Barry Coppinger
Police and Crime Commissioner for Cleveland
Hardyal Dhindsa
Police and Crime Commissioner for Derbyshire
Martin Surl
Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire
Jeff Cuthbert
Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent
Keith Hunter
Police and Crime Commissioner for Humberside
Lord William Bach
Police and Crime Commissioner for Leicestershire
Arfon Jones
Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales
Paddy Tipping
Police and Crime Commissioner for Nottinghamshire
David Munro
Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey
David Jamieson
Police and Crime Commissioner for West Midlands
Mark Burns-Williamson
Police and Crime Commissioner for West Yorkshire
Joyce Moseley
Chair of Transition to Adulthood Alliance
Caroline Mason
Chief Executive, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
Peter Dawson
Director, Prison Reform Trust
Imtiaz Amin
Co-director, Zahid Mubarek Trust
Alice Danway
Chief Executive, Switchback
Jessica Southgate
Chief Executive, Agenda
Rose Dowling
Chief Executive, Leaders Unlocked
Jo-Anne Welsh
Chief Executive, Brighton Oasis Project
Vicki Cardwell
Chief Executive, Spark Inside
Darren Murinas
Chief Executive, Expert Citizens
Siobhan Pollitt
Chief Executive Back on Track Manchester
Natasha Finlayson
Chief Executive, Working Chance
Christopher Stacey
Co-director, Unlock
Oliver Standing
Director, Collective Voice
Kirsty Kitchen
Head of Policy and Communications, Birth Companions
Professor Kieran McCartan
Professor Huw Williams
Professor Ben Crewe
Professor Jane Millar

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