Matthew Taylor (“How can assistants be of more assistance?”, Comment, 15 March) is right to call for changes to the way public sector assistants, including teaching assistants, are managed and supported. But we should not make the mistake of focusing primarily on the needs of the low-skilled adults of today. What we should do is re-examine systems that ensure the lowest-achieving children spend the least time with the most-educated adults. Only by securing the best possible teaching for low-achieving and disadvantaged children - for example, through programmes such as Every Child a Reader - will we avoid them becoming the low-skilled, low-paid adults of tomorrow.
Jean Gross CBE, Special educational needs expert and writer.