We were pleased to read David Halliday’s account (October 16) of the innovative continuing professional development organised by his authority (the whole-school distribution of Brian Boyd’s book The Learning Classroom).

Scottish Borders is not the only council to have offered such original CPD to its staff: other authorities, as well as individual schools, have purchased bulk quantities of this stimulating contribution to the debate on learning styles, thereby confirming Mr Halliday’s proposition that “giving teachers a book to read on education was a good investment”.

I would respectfully point out, however, that the book was not in any way “sponsored by The TESS”. It was, along with other titles in our Scottish CPD series, published in association with The TESS, which proved a source of pride to both publisher and newspaper. The only financial exchange involved in The Learning Classroom’s distribution was the purchase of the books from ourselves.

Mr Halliday’s authority secured an extremely advantageous bulk discount on the deal, thus rendering the CPD process even more cost-effective than he might have imagined. Such arrangements are open to all schools or authorities interested in encouraging their teachers “to read, reflect, discuss and share their experience”.

John Mitchell, managing director, Hodder Gibson, Christie Street, Paisley.