Education expert hopes that Paul Givan's essay is clue that he will deliver quality teaching in schools

An educational expert who backs traditional teaching methods has welcomed comments by Paul Givan.

William Kitchen, who has long criticised what he describes as the "dumbing down” in schools, said that he was encouraged by an essay that Stormont’s education minister wrote in the News Letter yesterday (click here to read the essay).

Mr Givan wrote: “We need system level assessment data at key stages one, two and three so that parents know that schools are delivering for their children and we understand how to continue to improve our system, particularly in the important areas of literacy and numeracy. And we need to see the resumption of school inspections which have largely been absent for a decade."

In response to such comments, Dr Kitchen told this newspaper: "It is a cause for great optimism to learn about the evidence based approach to which the minister has committed. For too long, the education portfolio has been infiltrated by ideologues who have pressed forward with a tinpot curriculum which has conclusively been shown to have failed across the globe in any country foolish enough to adopt it.

"Take Scotland, for example, whose 'Curriculum for Excellence' was described recently as ‘the betrayal of a generation’. That curriculum is identical to the one we adopt in this province. Rather alarmingly, the very same curricular approaches were shown to damage children's life chances as proven in Project Follow Through; a study which is recognised as the most expensive and far-reaching educational research ever conducted.”

He also said: “The minister and his team have proven to be an 'open door' to hearing objectively presented evidence, and I welcome this sensible and proactive approach. Our children deserve a quality education system which is, at the very least, built on evidence rather than ideology. I believe this minister can deliver it."

Dr Kitchen, who believes that there is a successful, unspoken campaign in the educational world to marginalise grammar schools, said: "Recruitment of high-quality teachers in a competitive job market for instance, requires incentivising the right people into the job.

"This starts with a fair pay package, and the minister has rightly made moves in this area to address the hideously underpaid beginning teachers in our system.”