§ Mr. MallonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) why the qualifications of Miss Sharon McGleave, BA, (Hons), MA, PGCE, have not yet been recognised as teaching qualifications by his Department;
(2) on what date he received copies of O-Level English language and mathematics certificates from Miss Sharon McGleave, presently employed as a teacher in St. Thomas More upper school, Bedford; and on what date he requested these copies;
(3) how many times his Department sought from Queen's University, Belfast, verification of the teacher training qualifications of Miss Sharon McGleave, presently employed as a teacher in St. Thomas More upper school, Bedford; how many times such information was received; and what was the nature of that information.
§ Mrs. RumboldApplications for qualified teacher status from people trained outside of England and Wales are considered initially under paragraph 2(b) of schedule 5 to the Education (Teachers) Regulations 1982. To be acceptable, the course of initial teacher training pursued must be comparable to one available in England and Wales at the same time. In respect of courses completed after 1 September 1984, the applicant must also have attained the standard in English and mathematics required to obtain grade C at GCE O-level. Confirmation of Miss McGleave's training and qualifications were sought from the Department of Education in Northern Ireland on 10 9W September. A response was received on 6 October. At the same time, information, which had been requested direct by Miss McGleave, was received from Queen's University, Belfast. As the responses did not make clear that she met the mathematics requirement, Miss McGleave was asked on 22 October to provide copies of her GCE O-level certificates. These were received on 4 November and Miss McGleave was notified on 20 November that she is a qualified teacher in England and Wales.