My daughter recently sat the modern-language oral tests for GCSE. Beforehand her teacher gave her lists of sentences to learn parrot fashion. The teacher (who was conducting the test) said she would indicate by hand movements whether some sentences were to be left out during the exam. My daughter refused to learn the list as she felt it was cheating. I have stories of similar incidents in other schools.

Looking for fair play, Cheshire

So, I am afraid, do I. The modern-language oral exam needs an immediate and radical overhaul to make overenthusiastic rehearsal impossible.

Teachers who behave in this way should be sacked. I do not accept the argument that they are driven to cheat by the pressure of the league tables. Every other profession is accountable. If teachers want to be thought of as professionals they must behave professionally.

I have heard that some primary schools give their teachers planning, preparation and assessment time by covering the classes with general teaching assistants, some of whom have no qualifications. Surely it is illegal for an unqualified person to be teaching a class of primary children. What are your views?

M Hogg, North Yorkshire

I don’t think it is right. Many classroom assistants do an excellent job. They are not, however, teachers and there is more to teaching than “delivering” somebody else’s lesson plan. The unions demanded more free time for their members and the government caved in. Ministers then fret about why more and more parents want to educate their children privately.

My daughter is in year 4. She dutifully does her homework each week but it never gets marked. Instead she has to fill in a homework diary and write about what she has done. She then gets subjective feedback on what she has written. I am perplexed as to how she can learn from this method, especially regarding maths. Am I missing the point?

Name withheld

No, but her teachers are. There is no point in setting homework if it is not marked. The idea of the homework diary is that children should “reflect” on their learning so that they can identify their “preferred learning style”. It is nonsense, of course: a poor substitute for properly marked work that identifies mistakes and offers encouragement.

My children attend an international school abroad. We are likely to move next year and I must decide whether to place them in a UK school offering A-levels, or continue in the international system, which offers the baccalaureate. Do top universities in the UK recognise the IB?

Ruth Paterson, Trinidad

They do indeed! Some, rightly in my view, believe it to be a more challenging qualification than A-levels in their debased state.

Chris Woodhead is a former chief inspector of schools and now chairman of the private schools group Cognita.

If you have a question for him, pleasewrite to him c/o The Sunday Times, 1 Pennington Street,London E98 1ST or e-mail him,with your name and address, at education-questions@sunday-times.co.uk

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