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Westminster hall debate on teacher training in vocational education
Monday 24th January
MPs gathered in Westminster Hall last week to discuss the Government's policy on the employment of further education lecturers as school teachers in schools.
MPs from both sides of the house encourged the Government to allow teachers with Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills status (QTLS) to work as qualified teachers in schools if they were teaching post-16 or post-14 pupils. This was one of the key points in the Skills Commission's Febuary 2010 report on teacher training in vocational education. The Skills Commission report was quoted extensively during the debate.
Speaking in the debate, Graham Stuart, Chair of the Education Select Committee said:
MPs gathered in Westminster Hall last week to discuss the Government's policy on the employment of further education lecturers as school teachers in schools.
MPs from both sides of the house encourged the Government to allow teachers with Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills status (QTLS) to work as qualified teachers in schools if they were teaching post-16 or post-14 pupils. This was one of the key points in the Skills Commission's Febuary 2010 report on teacher training in vocational education. The Skills Commission report was quoted extensively during the debate.
Speaking in the debate, Graham Stuart, Chair of the Education Select Committee said:
"Academic and vocational education are both important and require equally rigorous teaching. It is simply unreasonable, not to mention unfair, that FE teachers cannot go into the school environment. As I have said, it is crucial that highly skilled and experienced professionals can use that skill wherever it is most needed. The current system of teacher qualification is over-complicated and should be simplified to allow high-quality professionals to teach in both sectors."
Replying in the debate, Tim Loughton MP, a Minister in the Department for Education, said it would not be right for the Government to reach a definite conclusion until the publication of Professor Alison Wolf's review of vocational education. He added that the Government was committed to "getting the best people into schools and colleges, relevant to the demands of the particular curriculum or subject, whether academic or vocational" and to "fairness in dealing with the teachers who dedicate so much to providing excellent education, both academic and vocational."
Mr Stuart, who is the Conservative MP for Beverley and Holderness, has also tabled an Early Day Motion on the subject. The EDM can be read here.
The National Skills Forum recently held a parliamentary seminar on Teacher Training in Vocational Educational. A report of the seminar’s conclusions can be read here.
Skills Commission report on Teacher Training in Vocational Education
Media coverage
Times Educational Supplement
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