A former primary school head teacher has criticised Government for testing six-year-olds, claiming it will have no benefit to their education whatsoever.

Mervyn Moorhead, who worked at St. George's Prep School for 38 years, said, in his experience, nothing could be gained by testing young children in the very early stages of their schooling.

He spoke out after Government decided to introduce testing of primary two pupils this month as a way of assessing their progress using the US TerraNova exam.

Mr. Moorhead, who worked at the school between 1960 and 1998, when he retired as head teacher, said: "I have long felt that we'd make a lot more progress in primary education if we'd get rid of all the tests, thus ridding the children and staff of annual rubbish.

"We definitely should not be subjecting five to nine-year-old children to incessant batteries of tests. Okay, so the system needs checks on what's happening?

"Fine, then test a primary five and primary six class every other year. Can't we leave the teachers to get on with teaching, not having pointless barrages of tests getting in the way?"

Mr. Moorhead said when he started teaching, students at the primary seven level, which was the final year, sat an exam, which was usually called the 11 plus.

That test was used to select which level of schooling the children should go through next. However, many people thought it was unfair and stressful, and for the years that followed various other testing instruments were placed in schools.

He said it started with testing pupils in primary five and seven, and then primary three some time later.

And said before long, every primary school was subjected to testing - even primary one classes.

Mr. Moorhead added: "I still, 40 years later, fail to see a single, solitary benefit to the battering of primary students with test after test."