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I was intrigued to note that "hours worked by university teachers were well in excess of those worked by schoolteachers" ("Scots HE staffing hit by hike in teachers' pay", THES , March 16). As a schoolteacher with a minimum teaching load of 20 hours a week, plus preparation and marking, regular parents' meetings, administration, extracurricular activities, staff cover, school trips and ever-changing national exams, I find this laughable. For years the role of hard-working, committed teachers has been grossly underestimated. I can assure you the average schoolteachers' day is more intense than that of their colleagues in higher education.

B. Doherty
Edinburgh