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Onus on memory testing and exams leads to shallow knowledge retention

I READ Brian Boyd's eloquent defence of a Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) with great interest (Letters, February 7).

As a former principal teacher I believe that the issue with CfE is that it does not go far enough. The problem of teaching to the test and death by past-paper which exists in our schools will not be resolved until all examinations are abolished at the fourth-year stage. The new system keeps the examination, in the form of the new national 5, albeit for a smaller percentage of pupils and, therefore, the old teaching methods will continue as long as the exam, in whatever format, exists.