The high dropout rate among newly qualified teachers should not be a surprise. Anyone who has watched the BBC Three series Tough Young Teachers will appreciate the energy-sapping war of attrition faced by motivated but inexperienced young teachers. Youthful idealism, a prerequisite for becoming a great teacher, can be crushed and this can lead to cynicism. But if new recruits are nurtured by enlightened management, they will have every chance to blossom and change the lives of the very children who gave them a hard time in the first weeks.

Stan Labovitch, Windsor, Berkshire.