IN the drive to raise school standards, the sense of balance is in danger of being lost.

Almost from the moment youngsters take their first steps into formal education, thoughts turn to testing and how league tables will look.

Of course, we all want to see educational standards improve. We want to see youngsters challenged to realise their full potential.

But we do not want it to be such an obsession that childhood is tainted.

Yesterday, the annual conference of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers in Blackpool heard that schools have become "factories" with children forced into formal education before they are ready.

ATL president Michael Moore warned of a "robotic, de-skilled, demotivated generation of young learners" and calls were made for the school starting age to be raised to six or seven, in line with other parts of Europe.

It is a warning which should be heeded and finally there are signs that the Government, which famously made "education, education, education" its number one priority, is beginning to get the message.

Earlier in the week, School Standards Minister David Miliband signalled an acknowledgement that youngsters face too much testing, with examinations at seven, 11, 14 16, 17 and 18.

No one can question the Government's aspirations to improve standards. The priority is correct - but it must not be pursued so blindly that lasting damage is caused along the way.

And it is not just the children who are at risk of being demotivated. At a time when good teachers are harder and harder to find and retain, production line education is not conducive to making the profession more attractive.

Mr Miliband has reaffirmed that ministers are determined to make the system work after last year's A-level debacle, and talked of "an exciting prospect of significant change".

We look forward to hearing the details of those changes in the hope that they will help redress the balance and put some of the fun back into classrooms - in the interests of the children and their teachers.