“Gove’s admiring glances spurned as Hong Kong looks the other way” (28 January) reminds us that we need to look at the wider picture. The thrust of the article was that Gove’s admiration for that country and for Singapore sits uneasily with his emphasis on the main purpose of education being the delivery of information. This is a significant point.

Michael Gove is right to be impressed with Hong Kong and Singapore. But he has failed to appreciate that, to use his metaphor, the pendulum in these countries is swinging in the right direction, whereas his prescriptions will swing us very much in the wrong one.

Roy van den Brink-Budgen, Director, If ... then Ltd, Ipswich.