The cognitive scientist told the Daily Telegraph that rubbers create “a culture of shame about error. It’s a way of lying to the world, which says ‘I didn’t make a mistake. I got it right first time.'”

It is better, Claxton argues, to embrace mistakes, because that’s what happens in the real world. Is he correct, and should erasers be banned from the classroom?

“I think banning erasers is a draconian action,” says John Coe, a spokesman for the National Association for Primary Education (NAPE). “However, on occasions rubbers should not be used. If I’m teaching a class mathematics, I’d want them to show workings. I wouldn’t want my pupils to be so overwhelmingly concerned for the correct answer that they didn’t show me any indication – and that includes the wrong answer – as to how they got to the answer they arrived at.”