THE headteacher of St George's School in Harpenden has defended A-levels in the wake of the recent regrading controversy.

Mr Norman Hoare said: "I am convinced the exam boards will do everything to restore confidence in the process.

"I am concerned at rash claims that schools should switch to the International Baccalaureate."

He said he had considered introducing it for the Sun Lane school, but the exam placed huge demands on staff and budgets.

He said this year's problems stemmed from marking procedures rather than the exam papers and he argued that A-level courses, particularly in vocational subjects, were more attractive and relevant to 16 year olds.

Under the International Baccalaureate (IB), sixth formers would have to study a foreign language and maths, which Mr Hoare says would be inappropriate for many at that stage in their education.

"Our efforts should be concentrated on taking French, German and Spanish into junior schools," he said.

While he agrees the IB is right for some academic high flyers, he said some university admissions tutors still preferred scientists with straight A grades at separate science subjects and maths.

He blamed this year's marking fiasco on hurried curriculum changes two years ago,

"The Tomlinson Report told us that one of the reasons for the fiasco was the hurried introduction of the new sixth form curriculum two years ago.

"One quote I remember is 'a disaster waiting to happen'. We knew this at the time, but as so often happens, no one listens to the teaching profession.

"Summer 2002 will go down in the history of education as a rogue year," he said.

"The re-marking issue has only confirmed that policy makers can, if they don't listen to us, seriously hinder progress and standards."