HC Deb 11 June 1998 vol 313 cc1183-5
8. Mr. Tim Boswell (Daventry)

What plans he has to modify teacher qualifications to take account of shortages. [43761]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Ms Estelle Morris)

Ensuring that there are sufficient, well-trained, high-quality teachers is central to our aim to raise standards. We have no plans to boost recruitment by lowering the entry requirements to the profession.

Mr. Boswell

The hon. Lady will be aware from correspondence between us of some hard cases concerning the transition between the licensed and the registered teachers schemes, and difficulties when somebody wishes to teach at primary level but does not have a degree in one of the national curriculum subjects. Nobody in the House would wish in any way to devalue the qualified teacher status or to reduce standards, but, given the growing teacher shortage, does she agree that is essential that the rules are interpreted as flexibly as possible to ensure that willing teachers are not deterred from the profession of their choice?

Ms Morris

For once, I am in total agreement with the hon. Gentleman. I assure him that his constituent, Miss Morgan, who, if my memory serves me correctly, is seeking a place on a bachelor of education course, is fully entitled to do so given her degree. I am happy to reassure the House and those beyond it that nothing in the entry requirements to initial teacher training demands that one must have a degree in a national curriculum subject. Of course, by the end of the training course, one must have the necessary subject knowledge in order to teach effectively, but there is no bar to ITT if one does not have a degree in a national curriculum subject. If any hon. Member knows of any constituent who finds such a difficulty when they apply for teacher training, I would be most grateful to hear of it and would make the Government's views known directly to the initial teacher training institute concerned.

Mr. Gerry Sutcliffe (Bradford, South)

Will my hon. Friend look at the process of postgraduate certificates of education and of the clearing house through the graduate teacher training regime, as some things do not seem to match in that area? The entire process seems to be becoming disreputable.

Ms Morris

My hon. Friend is right; the subject needs looking at. There is a problem about the timing of applications and the way in which different institutions deal with them. We are determined that those who wish to apply for teacher training are able to do so as easily as possible and that institutions providing courses can choose the best and most suitable candidates. I am not entirely convinced that that is happening at the moment; we have the matter under review.

Mrs. Theresa May (Maidenhead)

Does the Minister accept that the problem of teacher shortages is creating a growing crisis in our schools? Yesterday, it was reported that the chief inspector of schools, Chris Woodhead, called on the Government to take action to redress the problem. So far, the Government have produced a cinema advertisement and a plan for what the Minister for School Standards describes today in The Sun as a "super teacher grade", which is creating much concern in staff rooms. Will the Minister guarantee that, during this Parliament, there will not only be sufficient teachers to stand up in front of pupils in schools across the country but every child in a secondary school will be taught in every subject by a teacher who is a specialist in that subject?

Ms Morris

I welcome the hon. Lady to her position on the Front Bench. This is the first opportunity that I have had to do so, although we have spent many months in Committee together, and I feel that we already know each other reasonably well. I remind her that being new to the Front Bench does not mean that she can wipe away 18 years of Conservative Government. Her comments were amazing coming from somebody whose Government left a crisis in teacher recruitment. Year after year, we saw the number of people applying for teacher training courses decreasing, and the previous Government took no action.

We inherited that situation, and, in the past 12 months, we have taken action and we shall continue to do so. We have provided £10 million for secondary subject shortage schemes; there are two new employment-based routes; we have established the General Teaching Council; we have set standards in initial teacher training; we have run taster courses for shortage subjects and targeted particular groups. The hon. Lady referred to the advertising campaign. That has led to about 1,000 new inquiries every week from people who might be interested in teacher training. Our record over 12 months of trying to improve teacher recruitment stands up very well compared with the inaction of the previous 18 years.