Sir – You report that because last year’s Key Stage 1 test results of pupils in county primary schools were “the worst in England” (September 29), the future of their headteachers is now under threat from councillors unless the figures improve.

The implied assumption is that these tests for seven-year-olds are such a reliable measure of school quality and teacher commitment as to justify extreme measures.

Personally, I would be more concerned if the county’s results were the best in England, since it is not difficult to teach to the test at the expense of a broad curriculum.

Moreover, there is evidence that if such enormous importance is given to tests, the results become unreliable and foster a school climate that undermines teacher professionalism.

The reality is that far from improving education, standardised testing only subverts it, because tests stress performance rather than understanding.

And given the vitality and potential of seven-year-olds, good teachers will focus on fostering these capacities and using their own informal assessments in the classroom.

The Ofsted tests promote a narrow emphasis on literacy and numeracy at the expense of dance, drama, music, art and creative encounters of all kinds. The punitive, Gradgrind-like approach of the councillors will only increase this distortion.

It’s worth remarking that schooling in Finland — which is recognised as outstandingly successful — only formally begins at age eight. To suppose tests of seven-year-olds have such transcendental significance is simply absurd. In fact, the current manic emphasis on testing is a political device harmful at every level of schooling. Not long ago, Oxfordshire primary schools attracted visitors from all over the world with their innovative, pupil-centred approach to the curriculum. This is the world that Ofsted has destroyed and the councillors should seek to restore it.

Maurice Holt, Oxford