In your report on the testing of very young childrennbsp;(“New tests could double reception teachers’ workload” July 6) you say:

“Warwick University research ... found that teachers want one nationally-comparable assessment to use as evidence for threshold applications and inspection.” Many early years teachers, reporting the tears of children who experience “failure” at the age of three would dissent.

Shouldn’t the touchstone for any activity be the effect on the children? But in its report of the 90 baseline assessment schemes currently in use that is not even mentioned. Instead our energies are diverted in the pursuit of some pseudo “objective” system of measurement and for what? To ensure that teachers obtain a level of salary that ought to be theirs as a matter of course, and to act as insurance from attacks from inspectors.

What a perfect summary of the government’s achievements in education.

Ruth Knox
Secretary, Liverpool National Union of Teachers