James Rogers executive director of the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers

If progress is to be made towards parity of esteem between post-compulsory education and schools, and towards meeting government objectives to raise standards across the Learning and Skills sector, it is essential that calls for the dumbing down of the Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills requirement from Phil Harrison of Protocol (FE Focus, November 10) should be resisted.

The proposed staged and progressive framework for achieving QTLS will be flexible enough to allow people from all backgrounds to achieve the new standard - and, as Monica Deasey says, if you are likely to be put off teaching by a reluctance to learn, you really should think of another career.