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Michael Austin's piece on the charms of modularisation (THES, January 20) and the welcome demise of the course resonates with the rhetoric being used throughout further and higher education. References to the student (singular), personalised timetables/programmes, individual needs abound. And how is all this to be delivered? By teams of staff, collectively, working together. Is it not time someone pointed out some of the contradictions in this fragmented, individualistic approach to teaching and learning?

We all remember Thatcher's view that there was no such thing as society, merely a collection of individuals. If we import this proliferation of choice and the denial of "the social" into our structures for education what hope have we of turning out graduates/diplomates with the kind of skills to enable them ever to work in teams.

JANE MARDELL

Sheffield Hallam University