Education: Your Views

I was interested to read Julian Hubbard's story entitled "You can't teach kids. You're too old". I am a maths graduate with a postgraduate diploma in statistics, aged 44 and currently looking for work. I was attracted to the teaching of adults. In particular, a PGCE to teach in further education.

I spoke to the admissions tutor at one of the two colleges in the London area that did this course. At interview, I was asked why I wanted to teach in FE rather than schools. I said that I didn't want the responsibility involved in school teaching.

I was surprised that I was steered away from Mathematics and Statistics. There seemed to be an assumption that there was not much call for my qualifications in the sector.

The tutor told me that they did not think that I had those "special" qualities required for teaching in the classroom.

I implied during my interview that the students would have to take responsibility for their own education. They asked me how I would deal with students who were not interested in the subject and did not want to be there. I suppose the fact is that I would not choose to end up in such institutions. The tutors at the university were clearly deciding in advance what type of teaching that they were recruiting for.

NICK LANDAU

London SW16