I couldn't agree more with Carole Ford regarding her letter about snap school inspections (Letters, September 22). I'm a strong supporter of the SNP and want independence but I find their education policies an embarrassment. Having written maths books for both the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) in Scotland and the new National Curriculum in England, I am amazed at how England are in the process of moving forwards with a strong, contents-rich curriculum whilst we in Scotland, who used to dominate the world with our education system, are slowly but surely dragging it down.

CfE has been shown to be the worst educational initiative upon which we have embarked. All you need do is ask teachers and head teachers in all sectors.

I'm sure the children are very happy in their closeted classroom environment, but having introduced a scheme with almost no visible curricular content, it means primary schools are left to interpret the vague outcomes CfE presented them with.

With no standardised baseline assessment, there is no pressure or incentive to reach anything but the bare acceptable minimum, though many primaries do try to push children beyond this level of mediocrity. Talk to secondary school heads of Maths and English and you'll find out quickly how much standards have dropped over the last eight years of the so-called enlightening initiative that is CfE.

Tom Strang,

1 Gorse Drive,

Barrhead,

Glasgow.

Carole Ford is correct to conclude that snap inspections of schools will achieve nothing in the so-called drive to raise standards and reduce the attainment gap. Neither, incidentally, will testing, which will merely highlight and quantify what we already know. In my experience, inspectors offered nothing helpful or useful. They were, however, very keen on paperwork. If the box has been ticked, things must be fine. One colleague was teaching the use of the apostrophe and the comment from the inspector was: "Do you think they enjoyed it?" Seriously.

The attainment gap already exists as children enter primary one. It is in high- quality nursery education that should be the Government's priority. In this environment, children learn vitally important skills, are socialised, become familiar with language and numbers, are read to and develop a familiarity with books.

This is particularly vital when these skills are not reinforced at home. They are then ready for school, ready and eager to learn. To that end, nurseries must be properly resourced and staffed with at least one appropriately qualified teacher, especially important in areas considered to suffer deprivation. Only then will serious disadvantage from the outset be avoided.

Education initiatives dreamed up by theorists have quite obviously contributed nothing to raising attainment. Standards have deteriorated and teachers, as usual, get the blame as they steadily disappear under mounds of meaningless paper. Let teachers teach the children and leave the ticking of boxes to those with nothing better to do.

J Mathie,

16 Sheepburn Road,

Glasgow.

Scotland's Colleges must, since 1991, have been the subject of more legislative "reform" than any other public service.

Yet, despite the upheaval, it seems that legal advice reported by The Herald suggests that ministers probably do not even have the authority to dismiss the boards of colleges ("College investigation 'unlawful'", September 22).

The sector may be in a state of terminal decline, a direct consequence of Scottish Government policy.

The post-school sector has lurched from crisis to crisis over the past decade. These have been exacerbated by the actions of the Scottish Government as deep cuts were imposed to "pay" for Alec Salmond's promise not to have fees in higher education.

This policy was wrapped up in a case for radical reorganisation and leavened by assurances that national collective bargaining would be re-introduced (to get staff unions on side).

It is high time ministers admitted the extent of their failure in the college sector, their cruel deception of staff and the detrimental impact they have had on the quality and extent of learning opportunities for some of the most disadvantaged adults and young people.

Their innovations have led to repeated allegations of impropriety in the pay-offs made to senior staff who became surplus to requirement as a consequence of the process of regionalisation. In addition, Audit Scotland has, to date, been unable to identify any of the promised savings which were claimed for the process of regionalisation. Furthermore, it seems that staff in colleges have been cruelly deceived since it is apparent that any return to national collective bargaining is to be unfunded and achieved by colleges themselves, despite the massive cuts already made to their budgets.

The college experience should perhaps be a warning to those who somehow believe that an SNP government is a benign one. It is probable that, if the UK's spending plans had simply been implemented in Scotland, colleges would now be substantially better funded than at present.

Ian Graham,

6 Lachlan Crescent,

Erskine.