Dumbing-down aside, our public examination system is an administrative and political mess.

Exam boards compete against each other for school ‘customers’ and so multiplying the resources required to administer the national examination system.

Surely a single national public examination board would provide uniformity and enable comparison of inter-regional performance, and also simplify selection decisions for university admissions tutors and recruiters in our troubled jobs market.

It was a scandal that exam boards burned the old O-Level and CSE papers, as it is imperative that academic standards are maintained over time.

How on earth can consistency be maintained in the absence of standards in past years? Finally, the school examination portfolio is too swollen. Our objective is to improve numeracy and literacy for pupils at age 16 and the strategic vision should demand a return to O-Level-style examinations in traditional subjects.

Over the age of 16, young people can choose to specialise in a trade or specific academic specialisms and thus broaden their skills and knowledge.

My own experience is interesting in that, having studied physics, chemistry and mathematics at A-Level, I chose economics at university where mathematics and statistics form the foundation and bedrock of the discipline.

Again, the political and administrative solutions are simple – appoint a competent administrator to oversee the new system.

IAN ROBLIN

South Rise

Llanishen

Cardiff