Attainment gap

A significant proportion of Scottish children are failing literary and numeracy tests and the cry goes up on all sides for the Scottish Government to take responsibility for this and to remedy the situation.

It should be quite easy. All the government has to do is decree that sufficient of the school day be devoted to assiduously and remorselessly drilling children in performing the exercises the tests call for.

Of course there would then be an outcry that this was yet more government control-freakery. Cosla would claim its turf was being invaded. The experts would complain this was not proper education and the teaching unions would demand more teachers, more training for them and higher salaries.

I would suggest that if there is a real problem the way to approach a solution is not vociferous government bashing but calm discussion by all interested parties of what they wish to achieve and how it might be done.

S Beck

Craigleith Drive

Edinburgh

Scott Arthur (Letters, 22 May) says that to close the educational attainment gap, education secretary “Angela Constance must invest in our most vulnerable communities”. I guess he must have missed the announcement made by Ms Constance that the Scottish Government is investing £100 million in a national attainment fund.

Douglas Turner

Derby Street

Edinburgh