One-in-10 trainee teachers 'has poor degrees'

17-9-2010

Almost 2,000 students are recruited on to teacher training courses with poor university degrees, figures show.

More than one-in-10 of those on postgraduate secondary school courses last year had a third-class degree or worse, it was disclosed.

This comes despite a Conservative pledge to block funding for any trainees failing to gain at least a 2:2 in a move designed to turn teaching into a “brazenly elitist” profession.

A report by the Centre for Education and Employment Research at Buckingham University insisted trainees needed expertise in their chosen subject but the Tory plan risked leading to a dire shortage of secondary school teachers.

More than a quarter of students training to teach physics in secondary schools failed to get at least a 2:2 from a British university, it was disclosed. The proportion reached 21 per cent among those training to teach maths, 16.6 per cent in chemistry and 15.3 per cent in information technology.

The study – by Prof Alan Smithers and Dr Pamela Robinson – said: “Poor teachers are bad news for pupils, but is it better for physics to be taught by a well-qualified biologist than someone who has studied the subject at university even without much success?

“Improving quality depends on attracting sufficient applicants to be able to choose those who can make subjects come alive for children.”

In all, some 10.6 per cent of British secondary school trainees – 1,744 – failed to get a 2:2 degree. A further 1,519 foreign students were enrolled onto courses after gaining degrees from overseas.

Together, it meant 18.1 per cent – or 3,263 – failed to gain an acceptable degree from a British university.

A Department for Education spokesman said: “The countries which give their children the best education in the world are those which value their teachers most highly and where the profession attracts the brightest graduates.

"Our priority is to deliver robust standards and high quality teaching to all, whatever their background. To do this we must attract highly talented people into education, because the quality of teachers has such a huge influence on children's achievement.

“The department is currently working to identify the most effective ways of doing this and further details will be made available in due course.”

The report analysed almost 37,000 students taking teacher training courses in 2008/9.

It found that trainees were better qualified than previous years. Some 60 per cent of primary school trainees and 55 per cent on secondary school courses had a 2:1 degree or better.

But the study said this was consistent with trends of “grade inflation” in universities in recent years – not necessarily a sign of higher standards.

The report – The Good Teacher Training Guide 2010 – also raised concerns over the “extremely low” entry grades for many of the 7,497 students admitted on to three or four-year undergraduate training courses. Only 61 per cent had at least two A-levels, falling to just 54.5 per cent among those training as secondary school teachers.

The study said: “Undergraduate courses for secondary teaching could be scrapped with little impact.”

In a further disclosure, the study suggested that millions of pounds was still being wasted training teachers who failed to make it into the classroom.

Just 70.7 per cent were in teaching six months after courses finished. Some 16.7 per cent had not taken up a teaching post and 12.6 per cent failed the course.

The disclosure is made despite the fact that each student receives between £4,000 and £9,000 in taxpayers’ money to train.

The report said: “Each year it takes about five trainees to provide three new teachers for state schools. While some drop-out is to be expected, spending five pounds to get a return on only three does not look like good business.

“There are more trained teachers under the age of 60 not working in state schools than there are in them.” (Telegraph)