Test-driven schools that rob pupils of play time

Sue Palmer said the Government's obsession with testing was turning children into "widgets on an assembly line" who were simply "taught to tick boxes".

She revealed she stood down from her role as adviser on literacy initiatives "in disgust" at how they were forcing teachers to coach children to take tests instead of giving pupils a rounded education.

The former headmistress spoke out as she gave evidence to an inquiry into the impact of school testing set up by the National Association of Head Teachers.

Youngsters take national curriculum tests at the ages of seven and 11, although many schools offer practice exams in the months and years leading up to them.

Mrs Palmer told the commission primary education "should be about the three Rs, socialising and getting children to love learning - producing independent learners who think for themselves."

But she added: 'Play has become a four-letter word. Learning through doing isn't valued. They're being taught to tick boxes.

"Above all what depresses me is the death of fun over the past 15 years. The most important thing you can make education in the early years is fun."

Speaking at the NAHT's annual conference, she said: "Children are turning into widgets being on an assembly line so politicians can announce a greater harvest every year.

"The widgetisation of primary and probably secondary education is almost complete after ten years of it.

"We will end up with an education system which is not an education system at all but just widget production."

Mrs Palmer's book, Toxic Childhood, argues that youngsters' lives are being "poisoned" by a damaging mix of testing, marketing and family breakdown.

"There is a great deal of difference between passing tests at the age of seven and 11 and being truly literate," she said.

The NAHT's general secretary Mick Brookes told the conference in Bournemouth that high-stakes testing regimes "humiliated" children and warned that thousands were truanting and dropping out of education early because they felt failures.

"It is high time those in power began to heed the message. The weight of evidence against the current system is growing" he said.

David Willetts said the Tories' own inquiry into childhood was revealing that children lacked opportunities and space to play.

"This is one of the fundamental reasons why our children are shown by UNICEF to be among the least happy in the Western world.

"We need to ensure kids can have fun as well as working to boost their educational standards."

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: "National tests are an integral part of effective teaching and learning, helping to identify pupils that need extra support as well as those with talents that need to be stretched.

"Children sit just three sets of national curriculum tests during their 11 years at school.

"Teachers are well accustomed to ensuring that their children know what to expect and can cope well with the tests."

On Saturday the conference will hear that pupils can face up to 30 sets of tests between the ages of four and 18.

Tony Roberts, a retired head from Lancashire, will claim childhood is being destroyed by excessive testing and pupils are suffering stress and anxiety.