EDUCATION minister Elizabeth Truss has hit back at Oxford University’s head of admissions who claimed changes to A-Levels and GCSEs are “unnecessary”.

In an open letter to Oxford University, Ms Truss said: “We’re making changes not because we feel like it but because qualifications have gradually eroded in value, debased by endless modules, resits and ever-rising pass rates.

“At the same time so-called ‘equivalence’ has seen bright students taking subjects that do not prepare them for university study.”

Changes include A-Levels becoming “linear” qualifications, with all exams sat at the end of the two years and AS-level exams will no longer count towards the final qualification but will become standalone qualifications worth half an A-Level. The Government wants to abolish GCSE coursework and make exams tougher.

During a speech at the Westminster Education Forum this week, Mike Nicholson, Oxford’s head of admissions, said: “There is widespread concern, not restricted to the secondary school sector, but also to higher education about the limited evidence that there is need for any change and widespread concern that the impact of bringing in both GCSE and A-Level changes at the same time is going to just wreck the English education system.”