As somebody who has worked in the English national assessment system for the 22 years since the Education Reform Act (1988) introduced statutory assessment, as both developer and critic, it pains me to see minimal progress over that time in the reporting of national education and its performance measurement.

As if our schools had not become subject to enough political interference, they will inevitably now be belaboured with knee-jerk revisionism resulting from reactions to the recent Pisa data.

Professor Bill Boyle, Chair of educational assessment, School of Education, University of Manchester.