§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what was the number of excess teachers in 1979; and what is the current number.
§ Mrs. RumboldThe number of students successfully completing courses of initial teacher training in England and Wales in the summer of 1979 who were known to be still seeking a teaching post at the end of that year was 3,020, or 13 per cent. of all those qualifying whose status was known. These figures include both those unemployed and those in alternative temporary employment.
In 1988 the figures were 700 newly qualified teachers known to be still seeking a teaching post at the end of the year, representing 5 per cent. of the total.
371WThe two sets of data are not precisely comparable because in 1979 the employment status of about a third of those qualifying was assessed somewhat before the end of the year (in October).