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I don¡¯t quite get the ¡°I¡¯ve been teaching 30?years, why do I need a qualification?¡± argument. (¡°State puts weight behind teaching qualification data¡±, News, 29 August.) If experience is so superior, why do we offer degrees?

Let¡¯s try a little experiment. Critics of the suggestion should work their way through the?following list: cutting hair; driving; eye?testing; defending clients in court; pulling teeth; performing appendectomies; flying commercial airliners; analysing cervical smears; supervising PhDs; teaching in primary schools; teaching in secondary schools; teaching in university. At which point would you be happy to accept a lack of qualifications? I?suspect that most people would stop at cutting hair, especially if it were their own hair?being cut at the time of the revelation.

Yes, I¡¯m being silly. But the argument against teaching qualifications is pretty silly, too, particularly if the best reason that can be given is ¡°I¡¯m too busy doing research to get one¡±. I¡¯m sure that will fill potential students with nothing but confidence.

Jonathan Baldwin
Cambridge