Colleagues across the country are disgruntled to find schools are to be judged retrospectively against a performance measure which did not exist at the time students took their exams.

The even more disturbing issue is the number of schools already undertaking curriculum reviews and considering major shifts away from vocational courses which have proved so beneficial for so many.

The Coalition has said five A*-Cs at GCSE, including English and maths, will remain the most important indicator and schools should be free to do what is best for their learners.

Michael Gove obviously intended the new performance indicator to apply a degree of leverage to schools but a knee-jerk response is likely to deliver what he wants, rather than what is best for pupils. Now is the time for a considered debate on the curriculum.

David Peck, Curriculum Foundation, Harrogate.