§ Mr. Anthony CoombsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he has any plans to amend the 117W arrangements and criteria for the approval of courses of initial teacher training set out in his Department's circular 3/84.
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerCourses of initial teacher training are currently being reviewed against the published criteria by the Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education. With the agreement of my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland and for Wales I have recently extended the term of appointment of the members of the council to the end of 1989. I am grateful to the chairman and members of the council for their work to date and for agreeing to continue to serve.
I intend before the end of the lifetime of the present council to review the criteria for the approval of courses set out in circular 3/84 in the light of the council's experience and advice, and to consider also what should be the future arrangements for the review and approval of courses of initial teacher training. I shall initiate consultations for these purposes at the appropriate time.
In the meantime, however, I am concerned that the criteria should present no barrier to the widest possible recruitment of suitable candidates to initial training. In this context, the requirement that at least 75 per cent. of the students entering any course of initial teacher training should possess the normal academic qualifications for entry to a degree course — defined in circular 3/84 in terms of A-levels or the equivalent — may not take sufficient account of the variety of routes to higher education that are now generally recognised, including in particular the greater use of vocational qualifications and the development of "access" courses, to which the White Paper "Higher Education: Meeting the Challenge" (Cm.114) drew attention earlier this year. I am, therefore, telling the council that pending the general review of the criteria referred to above I shall be prepared to consider recommendations from it for the approval of courses of initial teacher training that do not comply with the requirement described above, where the council is satisfied that the course in question is nevertheless of the high quality required. I shall then take account of the experience of such cases when I review the criteria.