27th September 2010 9:00
By Blue Tutors
It’s been reported that the UK may face an even greater shortage of Maths and Science teachers if Michael Gove’s recent plans to shake up teacher training go ahead. The education secretary has announced that graduates wishing to progress to a career in teaching should not receive funding if their degree grade is lower than a 2-2. However, a study carried out by Professor Alan Smithers and Dr. Pamela Robinson at the Centre for Education and Employment, at Buckingham University, suggested that these plans will have a negative effect.
The study said that the grade limits, if imposed, would mean 430 fewer trainee science teachers, and 410 fewer trainee maths teachers. This comes shortly after it was revealed last week that a primary school in London is using private tutors based in India to conduct online tutoring for their students. This is in no way unusual, with large numbers of parents across the country turning to using a home tutor particularly for maths and science because of the dearth in quality school teachers for those subjects.
A section of the annual Good Teacher Training Guide read “The coalition government’s teacher training policies do not add up. Michael Gove is putting the cart before the horse. Improving quality depends on attracting sufficient applicants to be able to choose those who can make subjects come alive for children.” A spokesman for the Department of Education responded by saying that they are determined to recruit the “brightest graduates” to achieve the goal of improving the quality of teaching.