Exam reforms 'will cause meltdown'

Changes to GCSEs, moves to make A-levels harder a new range of vocational diplomas and tests in basic maths, English and computing are all due to be introduced next year.

Members of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) condemned the "ludicrous speed" at which they are being introduced and warned that pupils' exam results would suffer as schools struggle to cope.

Delegates at the union's annual conference in Bournemouth urged ministers to rethink their plan to introduce all the reforms at the same time.

Eric Fisk, chair of the NAHT secondary education committee, said: "The situation typifies what has become the English way of doing things: rushing at ludicrous speed to implement reforms that have not been adequately piloted, evaluated or resourced and within impossible timescales.

"Each reform looked at in isolation may appear manageable. It is the cumulative implications of implementing all in 2008 that create the conditions for the storm that could lead to curriculum meltdown in our schools."

Mr Fisk stressed that the plans were good ideas and potentially crucial for the future of state education. He said teenagers need more choice to be able to follow work-related courses and schools would benefit from more flexibility, which the proposals offer.

"It is our real concern for the success of these reforms that we urge for a workable timescale to make them reality or they may remain pipe dreams at the expense of the education of another generation of young people," he said.

Mike Stewart a delegate from Westlands school in Torbay, Devon, said piling all the Government's changes on schools at once would hit the quality of education that teachers are able to provide.

"What you are going to see is results going down, headline figures will drop and perceived standards will fall. We are going through more hoops just to get through government policy."