I am going to ensure that standards in all the private schools I am involved with are maintained,in other words I shall turn a blind eye to all DFES 'new ideas' until they can show how the system is to change.

Peers Carter, Gravesend, Kent

So long as the state controls education, it's all moot since the customer-- i.e. the child and parent-- is never right, since they don't control the money; as a result there's no competition, and the school can make any excuse it wants-- they can't be fired.
Rather, the STATE controls the money, and so the child's interest conflicts with the school's-- and this precludes education being the primary objective. Only when parents can take their child and go elsewhere-- and take their money with them can there be REAL competition. And this is only possible under a completely private system-- or perhaps a voucher-system. But the school-lobby is too rich with government money to let that happen, so it never will.
My only advice to the average parent then, is to not be average-- get the best education you can, and make sure the objective is so your kid can perform in college and get a top-paying career-- not make stupid paper-cut-outs,or pledge to a flag that imprisons him in a bad school.

Brian McCandliss, West Bloomfield, MI

The Department for Education is a joke and the minister Alan Johnson is a complete incompetent. He and his department are a laughing stock. Everything that comes out from them in recent times has been farcical. This is just another stupid initiative that will do nothing for the school children. However, hopefully, if this is like most of Alan Johnson's ideas, this will die a death due to his usual u-turns when faced with common sense resistance. The drive to brainwash children in the schools is very worrying. If its not race its sexuality or bullying that children are having shoved down their throats. What is so wrong for a child to put their hand up to seek a teacher's attention? For goodness sake just teach and leave ideals, morality and conscience issues out of the classroom

Lynda Plum, London, england

Raising your arm in class is still very popular in China now.

li, XuZhou,

I am a mother and a mathematics teacher - a very good one - i recently gained my AST qualification.Now i am going to send myself to extra classes so i can help my two daughters. Although i wil not put my hand up to ask myself a question.

Dizz, Bognor, UK

Who says chanting tables has been discontinued? This myth is churned out by the media with monotonous regularity. Throughout my 20 years in teaching tables have been taught - through chanting aloud, and numerous other methods.... and why is it such a surprise that handwriting is practised on paper in exercise books rather than on slates? Reporting this is on a par with reporting that washing machines are now used instead of dolly tubs. Similarly, inkwells went out of fashion more than 30 years ago - what's the big deal? Much of this report seems to be designed to fill column inches on a slow news day.

'Hands up' isn't over. It's just one way of asking kids to respond. Different strategies are now also being used because some don't learn well if only one method is relied upon. Isn't it great that the teaching profession is trying to be as flexible as possible in addressing the needs of a range of learning styles?

JB, Birmingham,

'.. the hands-up approach doesn’t work because they find strategies not to take risks and wait till most hands have gone up before putting their own up' - but surely this strange phenomena can be witnessed in groups of adults the world over? Is it not natural human behaviour?
Any skilled teacher recognises the importance of not always asking the same pupils, as well as the importance of 'drawing out' the more nervous children. If they are not tactfully and sensitively drawn-out in school as children, when will they be?
Getting children to chat is not a problem. I have often experimented with allowing my class 5-10 minutes to discuss ideas before reporting back. Perhaps, my class of year 5 children (consisting of widely varying ethnic and economical backgrounds) are completely unusual, but I have only found that it disrupts lessons rather than contributes anything useful to them. Constant guidelines for teachers, and yet the children's get hazier....

Miss T, Reading, UK

This is ridiculous on so many levels! First and foremost the children who don't put their hands up may choose not to for many reasons, just because they don't doesn't mean they won't be able to give a good answer in exams! In my experience at school it was the louder kids who did worse in exams, not the other way round. I was exceptionally quiet and got good grades for my entire school life. Also suggesting there should be maths lessons specifically for mothers? Don't even get me started on this new stupidity!!

Rosie Dickinson, Hull, England

I agree whole heartedly with Damien. Teachers have many strategies for drawing answers from their pupils and are perfectly capable of observing which children need to be asked for an answer and which children have the confidence to volunteer an answer - even if the answer isn't correct. There is a place for working in pairs too, but it is difficult in a class of thirty children, all talking at once, to know if they are all actually discussing the answer or something else. Another useful stategy is asking pupils to write their answers on small white boards with dry wipe pens and to hold them up. I have found this method very helpful, as a quick glance round the groups will reveal who has understood and who copied or needs more help, without singling anyone out and the children love it. The trouble is teachers are constantly hounded with new initiatives from people who know very little about teaching.

Patricia Volante, Westcliff-on-Sea,

Below seven children co-operate enthusiastically with teacher. Above it they resent having to be at school. That's why some pupils will fall behind at this stage.
Whilst teachers should constantly think about the way they manage their classrooms, a hands-up initiative is unlikely to do anything to resolve the deep-seated problem of children who would rather be elsewhere.

Malcolm McLean, Bradford, UK

As a teacher I feel it is important that after an exercise students compare their answers in pairs and see if they agree or disagree with their partner.

Peer correction is extremely important but you can´t be constantly monitoring a class full of pairs. The feedback should then be done as a class.

You also, at times, have to discourage students from shouting out the answers and "putting your hands up" is an organised way of doing this. You keep track of who answers all the time and who doesn´t to make sure that everyone is given a chance. Including the shy student. No-one is invisible.

We know what we´re doing and how to do it - stop micro managing everything!

Mark, Anytown, UK

Teachers do years of training for their jobs - give 'em a chance to use it. They know their classes better than anybody, and they will draw out the more inhibited student - and they can frisk them for knives at the same time, because they always say it's the quiet ones.

Why can't we just let teachers teach - it's what they're good at.

Damian, London, Uk

Allowing the children to discuss answers will help them develop co-operation skills and also encourage them in answering when they're not 100% sure of the answer. It sounds like good advice to me which can be used as a set standard in schools, rather than just being used by the good teachers who can be bothered. It's easy to fall into the trap of asking the brightest and most eager students every time, especially if you have a large class.

One thing that concerns me is the maths lessons for women only? Surely about as much maths would get done as at their Tupperware parties or when they do the weekly shop?

Justin, Wuhan, China

Absolute hogwash. The study has only identified that their are some quite kids who fall behind in school - that we already knew. I'm sure there are noisy kids who also fall behind and I can bet my last penny that the so called research does not proove that the advise will actuall lead to any improvements.

In facr why can newspapers provide links to reasearch so we can read it for ourselves!!

Tony Mba, Geneva, Switzerland

it's time to abolish the DES (or whatever the Min of Ed is calling itself this week). Teachers are perfectly capable of teaching, gormless "advice" of this nature is inevitably ridiculed and ignored so why are we paying some clown to come up with it?

John Ledbury, Kings Lynn, England

Children in the comfort of the home environment generally feel confident to ask questions of parents knowing the answer will tailored to encourage.

Swap this for the crowded classroom of 30 and a lot of that confidence evaporates. Many children lack the self confidence to stand out in a busy class and put a hand up. Not necessarily any indication of ability and perhaps a surprise for parents to learn that their child is so quiet in class.

Although the criticism of Government policy attempting to micromanage the role of teachers will invoke reaction there is something at stake here. We really do need to ensure that these " invisible children" are engaged, hands up or otherwise. The maxim that for every hand that goes up eight others would have liked to ask the same question and benefit from the answer should not be overlooked. Perhaps parents should be encouraged to re-adopt a more interactive role at home to reinforce the lesson content and tease out those unasked questions.

Alistair Owens, Doncaster, UK

The Department for Education is a joke and the minister Alan Johnson is a complete incompetent. He and his department are a laughing stock. Everything that comes out from them in recent times has been farcical. This is just another stupid initiative that will do nothing for the school children. However, hopefully, if this is like most of Alan Johnson's ideas, this will die a death due to his usual u-turns when faced with common sense resistance. The drive to brainwash children in the schools is very worrying. If its not race its sexuality or bullying that children are having shoved down their throats. What is so wrong for a child to put their hand up to seek a teacher's attention? For God’s sake just teach and leave ideals, morality and conscience issues out of the classroom

Lynda Plum, London, england