Letter: Non-violence alone will help schools

Sir: It gives me a warm feeling inside to know, after over 20 years of teaching, that I and my colleagues are no longer in a moral vacuum. It has been a great struggle during this time, not having had any governmental guidance as to how we should instruct our pupils in learning and understanding what is right from what is wrong ("School chiefs aim to end no-blame society", 31 October).

One can only wonder at the naivete of such a directive. Is the aim to alienate and insult the whole teaching profession who, every day of our working lives, spend a great deal of time and energy helping our pupils to understand and value themselves, the wider society in which they live and also learn to care for the environment and have respect for the world?

I know that both explicitly through the taught curriculum and implicitly through the pastoral care system and assemblies of our school we have always taught and guided pupils within a moral framework. I am sure that this will be echoed in all schools across the land.

One can only hope that before I retire, education will cease to be a political football and that the teaching profession will be given some credit for the order and stability that we give to many children's lives. It is always the few schools which fall below that mark which are highlighted, never the vast majority which are doing a job of which we should all be proud.

SHARON ARTLEY

Whitby, North Yorkshire