Ditch the tests

Your report (2 August) stating that “cruel” national testing is leaving pupils as young as five traumatised will surely cause the SNP to rethink a policy which should never have been introduced in the first place.

What will formal national testing do other than confirm that there is an attainment gap? We know that there is an attainment gap right now. And we know this as a result of testing which already takes place as a matter of course in every classroom in Scotland – diagnostic testing which has a range of functions, one of which is to determine which pupils need extra help. Testing identifies the problem– it doesn’t solve it.

The SNP claim that testing will enable teachers to identify and target pupils who require additional help, which they will make available. It is clear that every teacher in Scotland, using the methodology of diagnostic testing already in place, would be able to determine right now which chil-

dren would benefit from the availability of extra resource materials and learning opportunities.

National testing will simply produce superfluous statistics – or more sinisterly, perhaps provide an opportunity for the SNP to massage the statistics. Ditching these tests and allowing teachers to use the time and money wasted in administering them is surely more likely to make a real difference to the attainment, and therefore to the life chances, of children.

John Swinney’s climbdown in June on reforms he had wasted two years of work on was carefully timed to coincide with Nicola Sturgeon’s “surprise” cabinet reshuffle. Do we have to wait for another SNP debacle to provide a good day for Mr Swinney to bury his next bit of bad news?

COLIN HAMILTON Braid Hills Avenue, Edinburgh