§ 67. Mr. Nicholas BennettTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any plans to reform teacher training.
§ Mr. FallonThe Government's aim is constantly to improve the quality of teacher training. Recent innovations have included the introduction of revised criteria for the approval of initial teacher training courses; shortened BEd courses; extended PGCE courses in shortage subjects; the licensed teacher scheme for mature entrants to teaching; and school-based articled teacher schemes, starting this autumn. The effectiveness of these arrangements is being kept under review and further improvements will be introduced as necessary.