How British education became exam-obsessed

sir – Charles Moore (Comment, November 17) mentions Lord Baker in his lament for the possible demise of school exams and their replacement with teacher assessment.

He should recall that, as education secretary, Lord Baker signed off the 1988 Task Group on Assessment and Testing report, which introduced the assessment protocols that are still the basis for today’s system.

Significantly, that report proposed a balance between formative (teacher) assessment and summative (testing and examinations) assessment. However, political intervention ensured that the formative aspect was never implemented and summative testing ruled supreme – leading to the “coaching for grades” teaching that has blighted our system ever since.

If that crucial teacher-assessment proposal had been initiated, 30 years of implementation would have produced an acceptable and balanced system and prevented the “teacher assessment as doom” syndrome that dominates politicians’ decisions, even in a pandemic.

Professor Bill Boyle

Cotebrook, Cheshire

sir – The problem with announcing in advance which topics will be in exams (report, November 19) is that, at this point in the academic year, there will not be a consensus on what should be included or dropped.

Schools teach many subjects in no particular order and the risk is that some children will be further disadvantaged. Pupils will stop learning certain areas of the curriculum to concentrate on examination-only material, thereby restricting the educational experience. Jane Prescott

Headmistress, Portsmouth High School