Accept democracy

Democracy is base on the rule of law and without doubt it's also based on the fact that the losers must except the result to any democratic vote. The last four years we saw those who never excepted the result of the Referendum, every attempt was used demonstrations, court cases and Act's of Parliament all used to thwart the result.

Now we see in the USA a President who wont accept a democratic election. We have seen on TV protesters storming Capital Hill in what they believe was a fraudulent election and in turn they are demonstrating to get the courts to overturn the result of the Presidental election.

The parallels are there for everyone to see, if you don't accept a Democratic vote then you end up with devison , intolerance and turmoil. If people don't like the outcome to any democratic vote then everyone has the opportunity to campaign to get some other Party's elected to reverse that result. The Republican Party and The Remainers should look closely at this, for if your not prepared to accept a decision of the electorate, then why should anyone accept a verdict that's in their favour?

Allan Woodham

West View

Nythe

Teachers under stress

You published a story about the Swindon teacher who was found three times over the drink-drive limit in class. I hope she is being properly supported during her community order.

This case illustrates the stress all teachers experienced throughout 2020 and are now continuing to experience in 2021. One of the headaches is frequently having to redesign lessons and courses to suit students who are in school and those who are expected to be working online. Much of this work cannot be done in school so home life suffers more than ever.

Headteachers have had to rely on online systems to run the business and to keep personal contact to a minimum. Teachers have also had little personal contact with colleagues but lots of contact with numbers of children. It is no surprise that the signs of stress are missed. Do your readers know what the signs of stress are ?

John Davies

NAS/UWT Ret'd

Royal Wootton Bassett

Chance for change

As many people have said, things will never go back to how they were and this is true of education. The pandemic has ridden roughshod over terms, exams and attendance with most pupils and students experiencing a lot of home-schooling.

I do wonder if the desire to recreate what was an imperfect system is not doomed to failure too. Perhaps now is a perfect time to devise new models - maybe more than one - that can be used in the future. It will be almost impossible for any classes if they will exist online to sit meaningful exams. The only realistic assessment model will have to be on one based on teacher assessment.

To ensure this works for future years I’d suggest that the Government abandon any exams for this year and spend the time devising a model of learning that embraces school, home, internet, sports clubs, charity work and other clubs/institutions so pupils can demonstrate their skills and qualities. The next stage in their education, be it school, university or employment would have to accept this new, pluralistic ‘norm’ and select pupils/students based on interview rather than flawed exams.

There is already a massive set of divides in this country, be it geographically or based on income, so this would be an opportunity for a levelling up exercise to be started and so a better society could be created - if the Government has the courage and really wanted to change.

Bob Pixton

Abney Moor

Liden