• A FORTNIGHT ago I read the consultation document that said my specialist teaching post will be deleted in September.

I am a Reading Recovery teacher working in a neighbouring borough, though many of my colleagues and my training is in Islington.

I am proud to have received research-based training from the international network of teachers and to be in contact with colleagues who I can learn from.

Reading Recovery has been developed for more than 50 years and is practised widely in state schools in the English-speaking world. We design daily individual literacy lessons for the lowest achieving six-year-olds for up to 20 weeks.

When they finish the lesson series the majority of these pupils achieve at or above the average level for their age in reading and writing, and maintain these gains throughout schooling.

Those who don’t make accelerated progress, achieve more than they would have in class. The specific needs of the child are identified early – these are the children most at risk of leading lives that could cost society a lot.

At the end of the last Labour government, Gordon Brown gave a financial incentive for local authorities and schools to recruit experienced classroom teachers to train as Reading Recovery teachers.

This was in recognition of the fact that, despite emphasis on literacy, the achievement of the bottom 10-15 per cent was not raised.

The enabling work of the Reading Recovery teacher was seen as part of Every Child a Reader, which would close that attainment gap. Child-centred teaching would inform what happens in class and other literacy interventions in school.

Pupil Premium was introduced by the Coalition government. This is extra money to ensure access to the curriculum for the poorest children. This has been the fairest and most effective way of targeting funds towards the pupils who most need it.

Reading Recovery is a very good use of this money. I will have been the last Reading Recovery teacher in my local authority.

I took redundancy from teaching earlier on in my career, in 2000. This was when I had been working in Islington, for the SPEAL project, teaching in collaboration with other teachers to facilitate better access for learning for all in the classroom, and specifically looking at the needs of pupils new to English and from underachieving ethnic minority groups.

Following the government restructuring that led to that redundancy, although the achievement of the SPEAL project in Islington was recognised and many individual teachers continued to do good work in school, much of the expertise and understanding around development of language and learning and celebrating diversity has been pushed into the background and lost.

Fortunately, I have been offered redundancy or redeployment as a class teacher; many of my colleagues have not. However, realistically I know from my experience last time, that I am very unlikely to get another secure teaching job following a redundancy.

It would be a challenge for me to go back into class and, as an older teacher of 53, I am particularly vulnerable under the current accountability climate where there is no specific support for returners.

It is unusual to find someone so committed and with as much Inner London teaching experience as me. In fact, I think I am in my prime.

What is the likelihood of someone like me being able to remain in teaching until my pension matures at 67?

As a country we are being consulted on who we want to put into Parliament and who will make the next government. I urge readers to Vote for Education. Look at what the parties are planning in their manifestos, and note the devastating cuts the current government is making.

You can find localised facts and figures at schoolcuts.org.uk.

I also want readers to think about the difficult choices that governing bodies have to make in schools as they have to consider staff restructuring.

We can use consultation periods to ask questions of our representatives on governing bodies. Out of pupils and staff, who will be hit the hardest? How will the cuts affect the quality of education in the long run?

ANN BOATER, N7