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After a successful British Educational Research Association (Bera) conference, it was disappointing to read Dennis Hayes' denunciation of education research across the whole of UK academia ("Forget the evidence - a real debate with the public is what we need", 18 September).

At least he carries his dismissal of evidence-based argument to its logical conclusion, making disparaging comments about a conference we have no record of his attending, held by an organisation of which he is not a member.

At our 2008 conference, almost 1,000 people were excited and stimulated to hear about and discuss an enormous range of research across many sectors. Bera is an accessible forum for discussion and debate on education that welcomes anyone with an interest in education. Maybe Hayes would like to join us and explore new ways of putting education research at the heart of informed debate?

Jeremy Hoad, Chief executive officer, British Educational Research Association.