At the end of his letter, Mick Brookes asks: “What are we going to do about it?” One reads of school federations, academy chains and enlightened local authorities which have produced significant and sustained improvements in results. My proposal is that those successful organisations are put in a serious national pilot and exempted from Ofsted inspections. At the end of the study, if the non-Ofsted areas fail to match or outperform the rest of the country, the profession will accept its lot. I am sure a TES-led petition could secure the support of a million current and past teachers, school staff and parents for such a pilot.

Stewart Gimber, Cockermouth, Cumbria.