ERIC Leaver (LET, September 12) launches a scathing attack on teachers, as his predecessor, John Blunt, was wont to do, without reference to current classroom conditions.

Does anyone suppose that the hordes of young people out of control on the streets, on the buses and in the parks become angels in the classroom, eager to learn and respectful of their teachers and each other?

The reality is that teachers are increasingly faced with growing numbers of insolent, violent and foul-mouthed pupils, who have no interest in their own education and create tension in the classroom, making trouble for staff and for the majority of decent youngsters out of all proportion to their numbers.

One reason for this is that effective punishments are continually being eroded. They all know their rights and do not hesitate to tell their teachers so and parental reaction to the school's sanctions is unpredictable at best and often negative or even violent.

The day after Mr Leaver's onslaught, you reported that pupils will have the chance to tell on teachers to school inspectors -- a golden opportunity for collusion by lying trouble-makers and something else for school staff to worry about.

Teachers go to work wondering if that will be the day when they are suspended following the unsupported allegation of some malicious grudge-bearer, when they are charged with assault for pulling a child's jumper or spilling water on him, when their career will come to an end after being dragged through the courts for innocently using a politically incorrect word or charged with criminal neglect when an unforeseeable accident occurs on a school trip, or when they will be attacked by a parent for trying to discipline their sainted offspring -- a parent who knows that teachers are lazy, greedy and useless, because Eric Leaver has told them so in the paper.

That's the sort of stress teachers face daily, compounded by a Telegraph columnist's prejudiced scorn for an entire profession.

KEITH ELLEL, Westwood Avenue, Rishton.