I commend the successful way Swindon Borough Council piloted the use of alternative voting methods in the local election, even though some concern may remain over security and the provision of appropriate safeguards against fraud and/or coercion.

At the polling station, voters were given an opportunity to respond via a questionnaire, which apparently attempts to strip teachers of their professional status (question 3 "Occupation Category").

Is this part of a greater central Government plan that would reduce the teaching profession to a mass of poorly paid "technicians", or simply the view of an MSc student and/or Swindon Borough Council?

Today I made a number of enquiries to the DTLR and notably the Office of the Returning Officer of Swindon Borough Council. The DTLR claimed no knowledge of the questionnaire and responded by passing the buck to civil servants in the legal department of the Electoral Commission. They stated that a questionnaire had been prepared and, while not published, placed teachers into one of three "professional" categories.

The Office of the Returning Officer of Swindon Council acknowledged that it had received complaints, and reported that the MSc student's voluntary work had been approved by the DTLR, on whose literature it was based, in spite of concern, apparently raised by her professor/s. The study appears to have formed part of a funding agreement between the DTLR and Swindon Council.

As a teacher working hard to ensure children enjoy a "professional" service, I am appalled that Swindon Borough Council is allowing teachers to be denigrated into the category of "managers" and "technicians", especially following such a damning Ofsted inspection of the overall management of Swindon's Education Service.

Stephen J Nicholson

Wroughton