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Teachers say last-minute changes to GCSE geography courses for September have left them no time to plan.

Exam boards have been accused of making major last-minute changes to the GCSE geography syllabus which could jeopardise pupils' learning.

Some schools only received new course details days before the end of the school year, prompting complaints of an unrealistic timeframe. A spokesman for the exams watchdog Ofqual admitted timing was tight.

Graham West, head of humanities at Wheatley Park School in Oxfordshire, commented that the exam board Edexcel only notified him of the new syllabus on Wednesday morning, prompting him to write to Education Secretary Michael Gove.

In the letter, Mr West said: "The changes which are being put in place are by no means minor, they will require an increase in the content of the GCSE of around 50%, as well as other changes being made to current modules. I am not against changes being made to the GCSE specification; my objection is the unrealistic timeframe.”

Mr West said that the changes meant a huge amount of work to revise 200 hours of lesson plans.

In a statement Ofqual said: "We know that time is now tight for first teaching in September, but we could not allow the previous versions to continue and the new versions must pass muster."

Ofqual said more geography GCSE syllabuses from other exam boards had yet to be accredited.