In Trevor Fisher’s letter (“Reform by trial and error is a big mistake”, 29 November), he is inaccurate and alarmist in what he says about the management of A level and GCSE reforms.

The key lessons from the Tomlinson reports into the Curriculum 2000 reforms are that attention needs to be paid to standard setting and to delivery systems. At Ofqual, the exams regulator for England, we absolutely agree. We will shortly be setting out for consultation how we propose to set standards in new GCSEs.

Mr Fisher’s suggestion that new qualifications should be “flight tested” before implementation is beguiling, but in reality it is extremely difficult to pilot GCSEs meaningfully. It is possible, however, to undertake flight simulation (to use his analogy). We can and will research, test and model aspects of the qualifications’ design and standard setting. That is our approach.

Glenys Stacey, Chief regulator, Ofqual.