In response to John Claydon’s article on the General Teaching Council in Friday magazine, I would just like to add another suggestion for how the GTC could make itself more palatable to teachers.

It should remove the element of compulsion. When I heard about the GTC I thought it sounded like a good idea but I wanted to wait and see whether it reflected my views before joining. This option was never open. The language of the GTC is all about “opportunities” to participate and so on, but there is no way of opting out.

If you contact the GTC to ask whether they think this is the best way to get teachers to participate they just give you stock answers. Oh, and just by way of an illustration of how effective the GTC has been so far, they haven’t sent me a registration pack yet, but have sent one to my retired father.

Ruth Sanderson
Guy’s Evelina hospital school,
London SE1