ALL over Scotland because of the cover crisis (teacher shortages for those who don't teach) teachers are barely keeping their heads above the water.

Reinstate the torpedo of national testing and you stand a good chance of sinking the Curriculum for Excellence and what it is meant to stand for, as some of the examples of educational reaction in your Letters Pages (May 22) illustrate.

Rather than of a concerned Angela Constance, perhaps you should have used a shot of a grinning Ruth Davidson. Michael Gove may no longer be Eucation Secretary down south, but you can be certain that his plaudits will be winging their way north if national testing is exhumed from the grave.

Bill Ramsay,

84 Albert Avenue,

Glasgow.

IS it a coincidence that the three Rs are in decline just as the use of Emoji rises (Not so smiley faced about emoji", The Herald, May 21)?

Roy Gardiner,

12 Wellpark Grove,

Kilmarnock.