Leaning on Pisa

I would have thought that if you’re going to criticise another contributor’s letter, it might be an idea to get basic facts correct (Andrew Hamilton, Letters, 22 August). For a start, I

am not a Gaelic teacher, my subjects cover a range of communication disciplines.

Second, the criticism of Pisa in my letter was in fact from mathematicians and statisticians writing in the Times Literary Supplement who described the Pisa tables as “useless”, among other highly critical remarks.

I’m well aware that politicians, for good or bad, like to maximise the positives or negatives of the results of such tests in line with their political agenda. That is of no consequence to me.

However, as the OECD concedes, to describe them as a reliable international measure, set within a huge variety of cultural and political differences, is disputable, to put it mildly. My specific criticism is that it involves one year group and around 1.5 per cent of the school population. How anyone can describe that as representative is beyond me.

And finally, having been a teacher for many years, I’m not aware of the pejorative description of CFE (Curriculum for Excellence) that Mr Hamilton attributes to teachers and wonder where he heard it?

GILL TURNER Derby Street, Edinburgh