Teacher training bar 'set too low' - graduate jobs

Teacher training courses need to have higher entry requirements as the bar is set too low, a group of MPs has said.

The Commons schools select committee said it is of "great concern" that students with only a pass at degree level or no A-levels can gain a place on a teacher training programme. The committee recommended that only those with a 2.2 degree or better should be able to join a post-graduate teaching course. It should then gradually be raised to those with a 2.1 or higher.

Entry requirements, particularly for those wanting to enter undergraduate courses as secondary school teachers, are too low, according to the report.

It said: "Having examined the level of entry qualifications that trainees bring to both under and post-graduate initial teacher training programmes, we are clear that the bar must be raised across the board.

"It is of great concern to us that those with no A-levels, or those with just a pass degree can gain entry to the teaching profession."

Almost half of successful applicants to physics PCE and PGCE (Professional Certificate in Education and Postgraduate Certificate in Education) do not have a physics degree, it found.