Philip Pullman has again attacked the amount of testing in schools and claimed it was creating a generation of children who "hate reading and feel nothing but hostility for literature".

Pullman, acclaimed author of the His Dark Materials trilogy, was appearing on BBC Breakfast television this morning to defend an article that appeared in the Guardian Education supplement yesterday.

In the article he claimed that there was "a lack of focus on enjoyment in the teaching of reading and writing." He also believed that the demands of tests makes children's writing "empty, conventional and worthless".

Pullman was one of a nearly 90 children's authors who publicly criticized the SATs tests earlier this year. The tests are compulsory in schools in England for children aged 7, 11 and 14, in Wales at 11 and 14 and in Northern Ireland at the age of 14.

The tests were also attacked by Kathleen Tattersall, departing head of the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance, the country's largest exam board, who warned that "we are a nation obsessed by assessment, particularly external examinations".

Pullman is also one of five leading authors to have voiced their concerns directly with the Education Minister, Charles Clarke, about the level of testing in schools.

While the authors, who are publishing their thoughts in a book, 'Meetings with the Minister', believe Mr Clarke took their views on board, they are still concerned that a "drills and skills" approach to reading undermines children's enjoyment of books. Pullman argues "the things you can test are not actually the most important things".

'Meetings with the Minister: Five children's authors on the National Literacy Strategy', by Bernard Ashley, Anne Fine, Jamila Gavin, Chris Powling and Philip Pullman, is available for £4.95 from the National Centre for Language and Literacy, University of Reading, Bulmershe Court, Reading RG6 1HY
tel: 0118-378 8820
ncll.org.uk