Gabriel H Sahlgren claims that “empirical research” shows “there is basically no evidence suggesting that teachers’ qualifications affect students’ performance” (“Leave schools alone to judge best in show”, Comment, 20 September). There is no reference to what this research is or who conducted it. It surely couldn’t be the sort of “research” carried out by right-wing thinktanks intent on cheapening and deprofessionalising teachers, could it?
John Hickman, Chair of the National Association of Advisers in English.
