The Sutton Trust talks of improving the bottom 10 per cent of teachers to bring them up to the average (“Lemon aid”, 16 September). This, of course, would no longer be the average. A new average would have been created.

The normal distribution - or bell curve - cannot be eradicated from reality. Chopping off the bottom end of the curve pushes it to the right on the X-axis, thus creating a new average, with at least 10 per cent below it. The pressure to remove or improve those teachers operating below average would continue.

The drive for teachers to be outstanding is flawed because the same bell curve always operates. Even if you have teachers who are fantastic, you will still have average and below-average teachers. Organisations like the Sutton Trust don’t seem to realise this.

Talking about people under headings like “Dance of the Lemons” and introducing phrases from America like “Turkey Trot” is unacceptable. There is no need to use derogatory language. Even talking in terms of getting rid of those not up to the job is using unpleasant language. It would be better to talk in terms of helping these teachers you refer to or, at worst, encouraging them into alternative employment.

This continuing demand for excellence is, for a full-time teacher, unsustainable. The system does not want to acknowledge this, but the demand is there and it results in teachers becoming ill, going part-time and leaving the profession.

A final note. Articles like yours seldom mention the responsibility of pupils for their own learning. It’s as if they just have to turn up, the rest being down to the teacher.

Andrew Bateson, Beverley, East Yorkshire.

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