As a proud postgraduate student at Glasgow University, I was surprised to read the letter from Sara Christie suggesting there were too many of us in training.
I’m sorry to hear she is having a stressful four years but all postgraduates have previously had that experience: gutsy for success, however, we have come back for more. Students such as myself, studying at masters level and juggling family commitments as well as having surrendered established careers, should not be labelled by people like Ms Christie.
Many fellow students have produced fantastic results and ideas, and have the life experience and wealth of knowledge which undergraduates may still have to encounter. My degree, like that of her friend, also had “nothing to do with children, learning and teaching” - just management.
If the competition frightens her, she should consider her options.
Her reference to postgraduates spending “only one intense year at university” sums it up. Maybe it’s down to the individuals who are passionate about teaching, and not the ones who are responsible for the political bias that we postgraduates face in our placements. It is obvious through chat in the school staffroom who are BEds and who are post-graduates. I get there and get on with it. Maybe my tutor is more supportive than hers: who knows? Ms Christie is free to join us to see if we’re up to her standard. But she should beware: one day I may be her boss.
Jackie McKay, Bonnybridge, Falkirk.