Brian Boyd (TESS, December 12) calls for more resources for 5-14. He hopes that the gains made by pupils as a result of 5-14 can be maintained.
I would be happy if those gains could be demonstrated. It seems to me that the changes in primary curricula have produced pupils who are less numerate, less literate and less able to make progress in secondary than their pre-5-14 predecessors.
The primary curriculum has become so overcrowded that teachers are barely able to cope. This is one of the reasons for the lack of progress in environmental studies in secondaries.
This course demands a corporate plan involving P7 and S2. The strains are showing in primaries and the pressures applied by those not at the chalkface are making things worse.
JOE McGRATH
Laird Street Coatbridge http:www.joemcgra.demon.co.uk
