Minority myths

It was correctly reported that the Teacher Training Agency's published performance profiles on initial teacher training are already out of date (THES, September 25).

Unfortunately this was not taken into account when referring to the data and an apparently poor figure for those achieving qualified teacher status at South Bank University was emphasised.

The TTA data did not take into account students with deferred or referred work that was submitted for chair's action either before August 31, 1997 or to the examination board in September 1997. A large number of students had deferred work precisely because of the increased rigour made necessary by Ofsted's recommendations for action following inspection. In fact, after the final examination board in 1997, 132 students out of 150 gained QTS (88 per cent), while, in 1998, 128 out of 143 (89.5 per cent) were similarly successful.

From being in a position of having three out of four categories marked as grade 4 in the 1994-96 inspection, South Bank achieved one year later a mix of 2s and 3s in the neglected appendix. Only last week we received confirmation that in the 1997/98 Ofsted inspection, the university had gained grade 2 in all areas and is now acknowledged as a B-grade provider.

Gerald Bernbaum

Vice-chancellor and chief executive South Bank University, London