SCHOOLS minister Estelle Morris (“Real facts about recruitment”, TES, May 18) has misread my opinion piece (“Labour’s magic numbers” TES May 4).
What I actually said was that claiming a small amount of extra funding had created the teacher shortage was “frankly ludicrous”. I dd not suggest that a claim of 11,000 more posts since 1998 was ludicrous. Indeed, I quoted the Department for Education and Employment’s own figures relating to the increase in posts.
Professor Alan Smithers
Department of Education
University of Liverpool
