Loathed by teachers and educationalists and loved by parents and employers, League Tables have always been controversial. This looks set to continue as they add another ‘new gold standard’.

The five ‘good’ (A* – C) GCSEs were criticised because they could be any subjects and didn’t have to include English or maths. Under the new gold standard the five subjects will be English, maths and three more. Using this criteria, last year only 44.3% of GCSE of students met the gold standard. The DfES is also mulling over whether and how they might incorporate functional skills into this mix, for example should they be equivalent to an English and maths GCSE?

Unless the changes have much more public support, simply calling something a ‘new gold standard’, will be seen as spin and no matter how substantive the changes, this will never get the support of parents and employers, let alone teachers.

• www.dfes.gov.uk/performancetables