I wish Richard Cairns every success with his campaign to have school pupils assess their teachers (The Argus, October 3).

Getting such feedback is important and helpful.

The idea is not new, in fact. When I studied at a teacher training college in London in the mid-1970s, we were encouraged to obtain such feedback from our students.

To my shame, I had not done very much of it with my earlier secondary school pupils.

However, I devised questionnaires for my further education students and used these for a number of years until it seemed the students always came up with similar responses.

With my university students, I used meetings with them on a one-to-one basis to find out how they were doing.

In every case, I like to think that I was approachable at any time if students had concerns.

Making such a system more formal, as Richard Cairns hopes for, will be beneficial to all concerned provided it is used properly.

I hope to hear from friends’ children and grandchildren that their school really cares about their progress.

Andrew Glendinning, Slonk Hill Road, Shoreham