FULL marks for Barking and Dagenham and Chris Woodhead (TES, October 8). As a Dutch national and a teacher, who has seen her two children and their friends pass through the English school system, my biggest criticism has always been that it attempted to push each child into the same academic mould.
These youngsters would clearly have benefited from the alternative offered by Barking and Dagenham and now proposed by Chris Woodhead, the chief inspector of schools.
I have always been very proud of the Dutch school system which caters for different capabilities by offering different types of secondary schooling and (usually) ensures that each child can reach hisher potential, without any stigma being attached to the more vocationally educated youngster.
Agnes Boddington-van
Giersbergen
21 Drovers Rise
Elloughton
East Riding of Yorkshire
