Respect the PGCEs

I enjoyed Richard Austen-Baker's parody of Chris Woodhead (Letters, February 16), in which he employs Woodhead's gift for insult, ill-informed dogmatism and hysterical prejudice to dismiss PGCEs.

But even the former Chief Inspector of Schools would have stopped short of claiming that "at best, a PGCE can stop someone from being disastrously inept". I hope Austen-Baker has an alternative plan for teacher education.

Chris Wilkins.
Leicester University