Sir, - The primary schools of upper Wensleydale have recently completed their second Ofsted inspections and have each reported a largely positive experience.

As an exercise in determining whether or not a school is successfully converting public funds into good education for children, so-called value for money, Ofsted fulfils an important role.

There are significant areas of school life, however, to which inspection teams give scant attention. Reports do not adequately reflect the strain felt by staff due to endless management initiatives and the relentless drive for higher standards in core subjects, of which the inspection process is just one component.

Some schools are more successful than others in protecting teachers from the adverse effects of what few can disagree is a demanding profession. There are increasingly narrow criteria upon which staff are made or broken. Teachers whose strengths may lay in, for example, a pastoral role are increasingly made to feel anachronistic and out of step with changing priorities.

It is an unpopular view, but schools are not just about children. They are also a place of work for a significant number of adults. Unless and until local education authorities and governing bodies take seriously their duty of care to employees, noises made by the Secretary of State for Education about nurturing teachers will be forever hot air.

There is no perceived teacher shortage in rural North Yorkshire, but this belies the reality that some local schools continue to shed staff at an alarming rate. The negative effects of high staff turnover are compounded by the limited number of candidates who apply to fill those vacated posts.

Perhaps future inspections should not only be concerned with the quality of teaching and learning, but also scrutinise the quality of teachers' working environment.

MARK ELLISON,

Askrigg.

Own up

Sir, - In view of the frequent and loud claims of the so-called country sports fraternity that they are the only true friends of the farmer and guardians of the British countryside, would one of them, preferably from the Swaledale chapter, comment on the following:

On a recent weekend, while walking my dog in a meadow close to my home in which shooting has taken place in the last two weeks, I counted between 30 and 40 spent cartridge cases left by these caring country-lovers.

In a few weeks' time sheep will be grazing the meadow but presumably that is not seen as important by the gun-toting litter-louts whose idea of a pleasant day out is to slaughter beautiful birds which can't fly very well.

I await the excuses, but I fear the culprits will keep their heads down.

PETER J ATKINSON

Park House,

Keld.