It’s refreshing to see Gordon Brown being so honest about the purpose of testing.

His belief that “progress relies on the need to retain clear accountability through testing” tells us all we need to know.

Children are facing batteries of tests not to help them learn or become more successful learners, but merely to make schools accountable.

This accountability rests on a strange belief that passing tests is evidence of real learning: quite plainly, it isn’t.

Peter Scales, Author of ‘Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector’, Derby.