It is wrong to suggest that Ofsted was asked to join the Government, unions and QCDA in reassuring teachers that they do not have to use the APP pupil assessment scheme (“Ofsted accused of utter inconsistency”, December 4). Ofsted was not asked to sign up to the statement.

However, it would not be appropriate for Ofsted to do so because we do not endorse any particular approach to assessment. We have made this latter point clear to the teacher unions. When inspectors look at schools’ approaches to assessment they look at the effectiveness of the schools’ work in this area and the impact on pupils’ learning and progress without specifying particular methods. Our evidence from inspections is that while a scheme might be implemented effectively in one school, this may not be the case in another. However, we agree that it is important that any approach to assessment adopted by a school is manageable.

Miriam Rosen, Executive director, Ofsted.