§ Mr. PickthallTo ask the Secretary of State for Education what measures she is taking to assist mature students on teacher education courses who have difficulties with teaching practice arrangements. [22194]
§ Mr. Robin SquireIt is up to higher education institutions to make suitable arrangements for all their students to attend teaching practice. The Department has, however, recently funded the cost of developing a distance-learning postgraduate certificate of education course, run by the Open university, which should help students who have difficulties. My right hon. Friend has also established the Teacher Training Agency with a remit which includes improving the quality and efficiency of all routes into the teaching profession and promoting232W teaching as a career. One of the TTA's own published aims is to devise a strategy for increasing the diversity of routes into teaching in order to meet the varying needs of prospective teachers, by spring 1996.