However, “experts” such as Julie Allan (TESS, November 15) and Pamela Munn, are constantly turning a blind eye to the complaints of teachers that this ideology, great on paper, simply does not work. We are fobbed off with platitudes such as “this is a challenging issue” and “more will be done to support teacherslearners”.

As a teacher in a secondary comprehensive, I deal with “challenging” (a euphemism if ever there was one) behaviour on a daily basis, unlike the aforementioned experts. Money spent on in-service courses run by more such aforementioned experts (non-teachers all) to train us in “dealing with such behaviour” is widely acknowledged as a waste by all who do the job. Senior management, keen to keep exclusion figures down, turn a blind eye to the outrageous behaviour of pupils.

In what other profession (except, maybe, nursing) would anyone be expected to put up with such treatment? Surely our human rights are being infringed. Isn’t it about time we stood up as a profession and said “No more”? The education system will keep functioning without Munn or Allan. It cannot cope without teachers.

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