Keith Bartley, chief executive of the General Teaching Council, is entitled to defend his quango, but his letter (“GTC can boost professional status, TES, November 14) begs the question: what is the GTC’s professional status?

The organisation was set up by politicians, so cannot but be seen as a stick with which to bully teachers - especially so when the body’s most reported activity is the punishing of errant colleagues.

It is bound to be viewed as cosmetic and designed to lend a veneer of “consultation” to decisions that politicians will make anyway. It should be shut down on the grounds that it fails to meet professional standards, fails to consult its membership, and fails to give members value for money.

Philip D Delnon, Swanscombe, Kent.