I share the concerns of Professor Paul Black (King’s College London) and Bill Boyle (Manchester University), that the Government’s version of assessment for learning (AfL) is “just a camouflage for accountability purposes”. But I would go further. Although AfL is not of itself a bad thing, it has shifted the balance dangerously away from flamboyant and inspirational teaching performance towards the dreary assessment of pupil learning and the burgeoning collection of data that goes with it. This has spawned a generation of lacklustre pedagogic clones who sing from the same boring and bureaucratic songsheet.

Stan Labovitch, secondary teacher, Windsor.