Letter: Choosing the right secondary school

Sir: Robert Howe ('Parental choice means responsibility', Letters, 2 August) has missed the point.

Parents, on the whole, know very little about the secondary school choices available for their children - always assuming that choice is any kind of possibility. The only people they come in contact with who are uniquely qualified to advise them about the appropriate school for their children are the primary school teachers, who know the child's capabilities and have a pretty good idea of the differences that exist between the local secondary alternatives. Far from being 'downright unethical' for primary school teachers to advise parents on the choice of secondary school for their children, it is, I would suggest, dereliction of duty not to provide such advice.

I know that teachers have had more than enough problems as a result of the current government's policies, but I'm surprised to find someone teaching at the senior end of a primary school who has so totally swallowed the Government's propaganda as to take Mr Howe's line. What does he believe his job is?

Yours faithfully,

RODERICK WHITE

London, W4