I have no idea whether the 100 academics are justified in their belief that Michael Gove’s new curriculum promotes rote learning without understanding (“Wise words could fall on deaf ears”, Letters, 29 March) but Gerard Kelly is right to question the relevance of much of their research (“Not ‘enemies of promise’ but not credible either”) in his editorial in the same issue. And we should not delude ourselves that the present set-up is hunky-dory either. Most schools pay lip service to creativity and independent learning and then run revision sessions to ensure good, league table-enhancing results, which is rote learning by any other name. Not to mention the private tutoring that is now widespread even among working-class students; a kind of grade income support.

Stan Labovitch, Secondary teacher, Windsor.