Teachers in exile

The chief executive of the Teacher Training Agency's claims (THES, February 21) that "initial teacher training is not an academic study, and therefore, an intrinsic part of higher education".

When teaching became an all-graduate profession, its status was transformed. If the TTA now carries out the plan, implicit in Anthea Millett's statement, to exile initial teacher training from the academic world, then we should not be surprised to see the dramatic drop in recruitment to the profession, also reported in last week's THES, accelerating beyond control. Why is the TTA going to such lengths to make the profession so unattractive?

Jane McAdoo Goldsmiths, University of London. Association of University Teachers national executive