HC Deb 08 March 1999 vol 327 cc72-3W
Mr. MacShane

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what minimum qualifications in mathematics are required to teach mathematics in(a) primary schools and (b) secondary schools; and what were the required qualifications 10 years ago. [74021]

Ms Estelle Morris

The minimum requirement now, and also 10 years ago, for employment as a teacher in a maintained school is the holding of Qualified Teacher Status awarded by the Secretary of State after successful completion of an approved course of initial teacher training (ITT). Decisions about the suitability of a candidate to be employed to teach a particular subject or age range are a matter for the employer.

All entrants to ITT courses since 1979 have been required to have attained at least a grade C in GCSE mathematics or a recognised equivalent. All current trainees on primary ITT courses must follow the national curriculum for primary mathematics. From this September, secondary trainees specialising in mathematics must follow the national curriculum for secondary mathematics.

Our Green Paper on the modernisation of the teaching profession, published in December, made clear our determination to ensure that all new teachers have a thorough grounding in numeracy, literacy and information and communication technology. As a first step, we propose to pilot this summer a numeracy test which we intend all trainees would have to pass, from summer 2000, before they could be qualified as teachers.