Rigour is not a word you hear very often on the streets of inner-city England. When Michael Gove talks about re- introducing rigour and traditional methods, what he really means is that he intends to erect barbed wire fences to keep out the barbarian hordes.

Innovative and flexible modes of assessment have allowed teachers to motivate and work with students from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds. This enables them to achieve the C grade that provides them with a boarding card to fly on Futures Airways, rather than experience doors being slammed in their faces, which is the common fate of those awarded grade D.

The victims of hard-line marking are the very students whose life chances ministers talk so much about wanting to improve.

Ian Sharp, Educational consultant, Scunthorpe.