Teaching candidates `not suitable` - graduate jobs

Those running a new six-month teacher training course have turned away scores of the ex-bankers and former financial high-flyers, fearing they do not have the communication skills for the job.

The pilot fast-track teacher training scheme for "talented career switchers" is an invention of Gordon Brown's, who said it would "make a huge difference to the profession".

But staff at London`s Institute of Education in charge of enrolment fear they might not fill the initial 40 slots by this September because, so far, most of the applicants require far more training before they can be allowed in a classroom.

Those on the scheme looking to gain qualified teacher status (QTS) will be sent into schools after just a 10-day induction period.

Dylan Wiliam, deputy director of the IoE, fears many will need longer to qualify, saying only those with excellent personality and communication skills have been accepted on to the scheme.

"The course has attracted a lot of interest so far but we feel very few will reach QTS in six months - they won't reach the standard in that time," he said.

"If they can't reach this hurdle to entry we are directing them towards longer courses. We want to take 40 students, but if we can't get 40 of the best people we will leave empty places."