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School leaders call again for action as UCAS reveals falling teacher training figures

Both the number of people applying to teacher training and the number of people being accepted has fallen, causing concern among school leaders in England.

The latest UCAS figures show that training providers in England and Wales received applications from around 46,000 people for teacher training in 2016/17 – down from 47,200 applications during 2015/16.

In England, 24,950 applicants were accepted onto training courses, compared to 26,900 in 2015/16 (a fall of 7.1 per cent), while in Wales, 1,010 were accepted (compared to 990 in 2015/16).

Of the teachers accepted in England, 14,040 are secondary and 10,350 are primary. In Wales, 440 are primary and 550 secondary.

Targets for teacher recruitment continue to be missed, with the latest government figures from November showing that the Department for Education had missed its initial teacher training (ITT) target for the fourth year running.

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