News

QTS requirement to become key election issue

The rift between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives over the requirement for qualified teacher status (QTS) within England’s schools is unlikely to be healed, schools minister David Laws has admitted.

With an election looming, Mr Laws was speaking at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers’ (ATL) annual conference in Manchester last week.

He reiterated his view that QTS should be a requirement for all teachers and told SecEd that this issue was one where he was never likely to reach compromise with education secretary Michael Gove, hinting that it would become a key election issue.

Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt has also said that Labour will reintroduce a requirement for QTS if they win at the next election.

It comes as a survey of 7,000 teachers by the NASUWT union ahead of its annual conference in Birmingham last week revealed that more than half report working alongside unqualified staff in their schools, the majority of whom are regularly teaching lessons.

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