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1. The Government's aim is to make the best use of available resources to maintain and improve standards in education. In the schools the teacher force,(1) some 440,000 strong in England and Wales, is the major single determinant of the quality of education. The supply, initial training, appointment and subsequent career development and deployment of school teachers are of vital concern to the Government and to the nation.

2. Schools change in the curriculum they offer and in their relationship to parents, to employers and to the community. School rolls are falling. The school teacher's task is increasingly complex and demanding. Inevitably some schools and some teachers are showing signs of strain. On the other hand both the training institutions and the employers are now able to recruit more young people with good qualifications and a strong aptitude for teaching. The school teaching profession continues to serve with resilience and commitment, and it continues to be the objective of the local education authorities and the teachers' associations to help teachers develop their skills and to improve the use which is made of those skills in the schools. The Government share that objective.

3. Teachers' tasks vary greatly according to the age, ability and aptitudes of their pupils. The work of nursery school teachers with children beginning their schooling is very different from that of teachers working with small sixth form groups studying at Advanced level, and differences are needed in content and approach if slow learners are to be helped and the most able stretched, in both primary and secondary schools. One of the main themes of this paper is the need for greater differentiation in the training and deployment of teachers to reflect the variety of these tasks. But the Government see the task of teaching school pupils as a single process and value the national tradition of an undivided school teaching profession, united by a common purpose and with parity of esteem for all its members.

4. Section 2 of this paper examines factors which shape the demand for school teachers and the supply of newly trained teachers entering the profession. The future demand for newly trained teachers cannot be forecast with precision, but it is clear that there will be an increase in demand for newly trained primary teachers during the middle and later 1980s, and that during the same period there will be a substantial decline in demand for newly trained secondary teachers, followed by some recovery in the early 90s. A Report on Education,(2) published simultaneously with this paper, gives fuller details. The Advisory Committee on

(1) This paper is mainly about teachers employed by local education authorities in England and Wales for service in nursery, primary and secondary schools. It has some application to teachers working in independent and special schools; and some of the issues raised are also relevant to teachers in further education, especially those working with young people aged 16-19 - see Annex A.

(2) "Teacher Numbers - Looking Ahead to 1995": Report on Education 98, available free from DES and Welsh Office.

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the Supply and Education of Teachers (ACSET) has been asked to keep the position under review and to submit further advice during 1984 on the demand for newly trained teachers and on any adjustments to the initial teacher training system which may be needed.

5. Section 3 looks at the match between teachers' qualifications and training and the work they are called upon to undertake in the schools. Surveys by HM Inspectors of Schools and other reports provide substantial evidence of mismatch: initial teacher training courses are not always sufficiently closely geared to the needs of the schools; and some teachers are asked to undertake teaching programmes in parts of the curriculum for which the specialist elements of their education and training have not prepared them. The paper concludes that changes are needed in the structure and content of some initial teacher training courses and calls attention to the need for employers to give particular attention to the qualifications and training of teachers when appointing and deploying them.

6. Section 4 describes action recently taken by the Government to restructure the initial teacher training system, having regard to the prospective demand for newly trained teachers by phase and subject specialism, and sets out the policy considerations which both guided that restructuring and will continue to apply.

7. Section 5 sets out Government proposals:

(i) to establish new criteria for initial teacher training courses; and
(ii) to strengthen the relationship between teachers' qualifications and their deployment.

8. Section 6 reviews the responsibilities of local education authorities as the principal managers of the teacher force in both primary and secondary schools. As secondary school rolls fall during the next few years authorities will need, within the number of teachers they can afford to employ, to make full use of management tools such as premature retirement, redeployment, and, if necessary, compulsory redundancy, in the interests of achieving a good match between their teachers' qualifications and skills and the needs of the pupils in their schools.

(1) References to the "Secretaries of State" denote the Secretaries of State for Education and Science, and for Wales.

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9. This section examines successively some of the factors which shape the demand for schoolteachers and the supply of new teachers entering the profession, and reviews the prospects over the next decade. Report on Education 98 gives fuller information about the background assumptions and figures; a few salient facts are presented in the paragraphs immediately following.

A Profile of the Teaching Profession

10. Local education authorities in England and Wales employed 439,000 full-time equivalent teachers in September 1982 (including 2,000 full-time equivalent unqualified teachers). 416,000 were employed full-time; the remaining 23,000 were in part-time or occasional service. The following table gives further information about full-time qualified teachers:

11. Neither the graduate nor the non-graduate category is homogeneous.

About 21,000 of the 159,000 graduates had no initial training, of the remainder about 43,000 were holders of the BEd degree. The great majority of the non-graduate teachers were trained on courses leading to a Certificate in Education. The Certificate course was extended from two years to three in 1960, and admitted its last students in 1979, following the decision to move to an all-graduate entry to teaching. It is estimated that about one-third of the non-graduate teachers in service in March 1981 had two years of initial training or less and have not subsequently taken a supplementary course.

12. During the 1960s and early 1970s the number of teachers employed was growing rapidly and the rate of wastage from teaching was relatively high. Consequently recruitment was also high and the teaching force is now relatively young; two teachers in every five are below the age of 35. 65 per cent of those who entered teaching as graduates began their teaching careers in 1970 or later; the equivalent figure for non-graduates is 41 per cent. Following the recent reductions in teacher recruitment, the average age of teachers is likely to increase during the present decade until by 1990 three in every five are aged 40 or over.

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There is always a large number of people qualified to teach who are not currently employed as teachers. At present just over half the vacancies for primary teachers and about one-third of the vacancies for secondary teachers are filled by people returning to teaching after a break in service, rather than by newly trained teachers.

13. Within the 433,000 full-time teachers in 1981, 28,500 were head teachers and 31,000 were deputy head teachers; of these 23,000 and 20,000 respectively were serving in primary schools. There are five salary scales for assistant teachers. In 1981 72 per cent of them were paid on Scale 1 or Scale 2 and 28 per cent on the higher scales (most of the latter were in the secondary sector where head and deputy posts are fewer). The proportion of assistant teachers paid On scales above Scale 2 is now at its highest level since the present salary structure was established in 1975, but opportunities for promotion from Scale 2 are decreasing. Section 6 of this paper discusses the future of the teachers' salary structure.

Changes in Teacher Numbers and Staffing Standards over the last Decade

14. In 1972 the Government of the day set out its plans for the future size of the teaching force in a White Paper(1). At that time the total number of pupils in maintained schools was still growing; it reached its peak in 1977. The number of pupils in primary schools began to fall from 1973, and from 1979 secondary schools rolls also have been on the decrease. In January 1982, total pupil numbers were 10 per cent below their 1977 peak. The number of teachers employed for service in maintained schools increased from 390,000 in 1972 to a peak of 471,000 (full-time equivalent) in January 1979; by September 1982 the number had fallen by some7 per cent to a total of 439,000. This total is some 50,000 lower than the figure suggested in the 1972 plan, reflecting a faster fall in pupil numbers than projected then as well as constraints on public expenditure necessitated by the slow-down in economic growth over the decade. The resultant overall pupil to teacher ratio is similar to that envisaged in 1972 for the beginning of this decade. There are proportionately more teachers in secondary schools, and fewer in primary schools, than was then expected.

15. The following table illustrates the changes in staffing standards since 1972:

(1) "Education: A Framework for Expansion": Cmnd. 5174, HMSO. 1972

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16. The table shows that improvements in staffing in both primary and secondary schools continued throughout the decade. The rate of improvement was slower in the second half of the decade than in the first, as successive Government's sought to moderate the growth in public expenditure. The greater improvement in staffing ratios in the primary schools reflects partly the policies of previous Government's which gave priority to the primary sector, and partly the educational requirements of smaller schools as pupil numbers fell sharply. The improvement in staffing in secondary schools, despite the increase in pupil numbers, reflected a higher proportion of older pupils and changes in the curriculum, both requiring more and small teaching groups.

17. 1972 plans for a gradual increase in the rate of release to induction and in-service training to some 3 per cent of the teacher force have not been realised; the current rate of release is estimated at just over 1 'per cent. In part this is because diseconomies arising from the faster reduction in school rolls have led to extra demands on the staffs of schools. But the Government consider that the teacher force would now be better equipped to meet current demands if, within their total expenditure, local education authorities had given greater priority over the last decade to in-service training and induction. The Government's plans for expanding in-service training are described in paragraph 87 below.

Provision for Teachers in the 1983 Public Expenditure White Paper (1)

18. The Government's expenditure plans for the period up to 1986 allow for a small improvement in pupil to teacher ratios if local education authorities contain their pay and other costs, and also for an expansion of in-service training in selected priority areas.

19. Over this period the level of service that local education authorities will be able to provide will depend crucially on the extent to which they can contain their cost increases and, in particular, on the level of pay settlements for local authority employees. Hence, the number of teachers that can be employed within the cash plans will depend on the level of pay settlements for teachers. Expenditure on salaries and the associated costs of employing teachers in schools is planned to be about £4,700 million in 1983 - 84 -70 per cent of the current cost of education in schools. Moderation in pay settlements will both help to preserve needed teaching jobs and also allow for more spending on books, equipment and the other things which schools need to do their work effectively. The Government recognise that if the quality of the teaching force is to be improved, salary levels must be such as to enable employers to recruit suitable people to the profession and retain them in it. At present most teaching vacancies are readily filled, even in those subjects where competition from other employment has traditionally been strongest, and wastage from the profession is low.

Teacher Numbers in the Longer Term

20. The Government have not set target figures for teacher numbers in the longer term. Experience suggests that uncertainties relating to demography, to changes in education policy, and to the levels of public expenditure which the nation can afford are so great as to render such targets unreliable for planning

(1) "This Government's Expenditure Plans 1983-84 to 1985-86": Cmnd. 8789, HMSO. 1983

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purposes. It is possible however to discern certain broad trends. In its 1982 . advice on the planning of teacher new supply,(1) the Advisory Committee on the Supply and Education of Teachers (ACSET) gave projections of teacher numbers based on projections of pupil numbers and on the assumption that pupil to teacher ratios up to 1995 would be held steady. Report on Education 98 gives projections on a similar basis, taking into account the latest information on birth rates, revised projections of pupil numbers, and other factors. Any change in pupil to teacher ratios would of course imply a greater or smaller number of teachers than the projections suggest. As paragraph 18 indicates, the Government hope that a small improvement in these ratios will be possible over the· next few years.

21. The prospect is for a stabilisation and then some growth in the teacher force in primary schools, accompanied by a reduction, following the fall in pupil numbers, of the teacher force in secondary schools. In primary schools it should be possible, as diseconomies from falling rolls no longer arise, to deploy teachers more effectively and hence to maintain staffing standards even with a slight tightening of the pupil to teacher ratio. In secondary schools, management of the contraction will pose greater problems than have been experienced in the primary sector because of the need to match teachers with the more differentiated curriculum. In many parts of the country local education authorities and voluntary bodies will need to reorganise their provision of secondary education in order to facilitate the more effective deployment of the teachers, as a means of maintaining and improving opportunities for pupils. In order to sustain a broad and well-taught curriculum within schools of smaller size on average, and to allow for developments in accordance with Government policies, it will be desirable to moderate the reduction in the number of teachers in secondary schools. This should be possible if advantage is taken of the scope for more effective use of teachers in primary schools but will depend on the education service's ability to contain its own pay and other costs. Management of the contraction of the teacher force is further discussed in paragraphs 76 to 83 of Section 6.

22. The rate of intake of new teachers during the 1980s will be lower than in recent years, and the average age of teachers will rise. At the same time it will continue to be necessary for the schools to adapt to changing curriculum needs and to developments in examinations, to improve themselves by professional assessment and evaluation, and to respond to changes in the society which they serve. Teachers will continue to wish to refresh and develop their professional skills. The Government therefore consider that in-service training should be given priority, and that there should be some increase in the proportion of teacher time devoted to it.

The Supply of Newly Trained Teachers

23. In its 1982 advice ACSET included a detailed study of requirements for the recruitment of schoolteachers up to 1995, and the extent to which that requirement will need to be met by newly trained teachers. As illustrated by Report on Education 98, the projections are subject to various uncertainties - not only future births, but also changes in the rates of departure from the

(1) "The Initial Teacher Training System": Advice to the Secretaries of State for Education and Science, and for Wales, ACSET May 1982.

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profession and changes in the demand for newly trained teachers, as distinct from teachers returning to the schools after a break in service. Decisions already taken on planned admissions to teacher training in 1983, 1984 and. 1985 were based on actual births but in view of the increasing uncertainty of requirements beyond then, the Secretaries of State have invited ACSET to keep the position under review; and to submit further advice during 1984 on the demand for new teachers and on any adjustments in the initial teacher training system which may be needed. They have also asked ACSET to consider further whether the relative demands for primary and secondary teachers during the 1980s will make it desirable to enable some secondary teachers to re-train for primary work.

24. It is important that the prospective expansion of opportunities for new primary teachers should be widely recognised. The low level of vacancies for primary teachers at present reflects the rapid fall in pupil numbers in recent years. Even if the annual number of births remains at about its present level, the number of pupils in primary schools will stabilise around 1985 or 1986. This will result in an increase in teacher vacancies because with stable pupil numbers most of the teachers who leave will need to be replaced. Within the total number of teacher vacancies sufficient recruits will be needed not only with the traditional skills and qualities of primary teachers, but also equipped to act as future leaders in particular aspects of the primary curriculum (especially mathematics and science), and to perform other specialised roles. In the. current academic year the training institutions have raised recruitment to undergraduate courses of primary training by one-third over the 1981 level. The Government will now pursue with its partners in education a publicity campaign in secondary schools aimed in the first instance at informing sixth formers about the primary teacher training places available, and job prospects.

25. On the assumptions used in the latest projections (see paragraph 20 above) the overall demand for newly trained teachers seems likely to rise well above present levels during the early 1990s; at the same time the shrinkage in the size of the 18 + age group is likely appreciably to reduce the number of young people who acquire the educational qualifications requisite for higher education. The implication is that teaching might need to acquire a significantly higher share of the national output of new graduates. ACSET have noted this as a matter to which they intend to give further consideration. Following the present phase of contraction in higher education, the Government intend to review provision for the sector in the longer term in the light of demographic trends and other factors.

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26. Qualifications and training alone do not make a teacher. Personality, character and commitment are as important as the specific knowledge and skills that are used in the day to day tasks of teaching. Good teachers need to have a mastery of the subject matter they teach and the professional skills needed to teach it to children of different ages, abilities, aptitudes and backgrounds. But they also need those skills which are necessary for the effective performance of their role outside the classroom in the social and corporate life of the school, and in relationship to parents and community. HM Inspectors pointed out in their study of ten good schools(1):

"An analysis of the staffing of these ten schools shows that the initial qualifications of teachers, their length of experience or their years of . service to the school are not necessarily prime factors in a school's success".

"found that the personal qualities of the teachers were in many cases the decisive factor in their effectiveness".

"It was disturbing to find that in nearly a quarter of the primary school lessons seen teachers showed signs of insecurity in the subject being taught. This is a far higher proportion that in the secondary schools in the sample. . . .. This insecurity in some cases led to the choice of undemanding or unsuitable materials, unrealistic tasks for pupils in which the teachers could offer little help, and failure to recognise opportunities to extend or deepen children's understanding and skills".

"One teacher in ten revealed insecurity in the subject they were teaching. Lack of subject knowledge led to teaching approaches which maintained an often slavish adherence to the textbook, reliance on narrow questions often requiring monosyllabic answers, an inability to follow up and extend pupils' answers and an over-prescriptive method whereby the teacher Wall able to remain within a constricted, safe pattern of work".

(1) "Ten Good Schools": HMSO 1977.

(2) "The New Teacher in School": HMSO 1982.

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widely recognised. In November 1976, the Royal Society's report "The Training and Professional Life of Teachers of Mathematics" said:

"During his professional life, a teacher of mathematics may influence for good or ill the attitudes to mathematics of several thousand young people, and decisively affect many of their career choices. It is therefore necessary that mathematics should not only be taught to all pupils, but well taught. All pupils should have the opportunity of studying mathematics in the company of enthusiastic and well qualified mathematics teachers".

29. Accordingly, while recognising that exceptional teachers with little or no formal qualifications for the work assigned to them may teach well, the Government attach high priority to improving the fit between teachers' qualifications and their tasks as one means of improving the quality of education. The requirement changes as pupils move from the early primary phase through the middle years and on through the secondary phase; but it is important throughout.

Match in Primary Education

30. The requirement in the early years, with its emphasis on children learning to live harmoniously in a community, physical development, use of language, arid the introduction of mathematics, science, art and music, is different from the requirement in the middle years where the range of the curriculum is broader and more differentiated. But throughout primary education the collective expertise of the teachers in a particular school must reflect all the major aspects of the curriculum to be taught.

31. There is a strong tradition that one teacher should be responsible for each primary class. The Government recognise the merits of this tradition, particularly in relation to the early years, and believe that all primary teachers should be equipped to teach across a broad range of the curriculum. But teachers are rarely able to deal satisfactorily with all aspects of the curriculum from their own knowledge, In some cases help from a member of staff with specialist expertise may be sufficient; in others, especially with older children, it is desirable for classes or other groups of children to be taught for particular topics by teachers with specialist expertise.

32. Most courses of training for primary teachers aim at equipping them to sustain a broad curriculum as class teachers. But the expertise of the primary school teachers now in service is heavily weighted towards the humanities and aesthetic subjects. Science is less well served. As HM Inspectors noted in their survey of primary education(1):

"The most severe obstacle to the improvement of science in the primary school is that many existing teachers lack a working knowledge of elementary science appropriate to children of this age".

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Mathematics, unlike science, is a central element in courses of training for primary teaching, but often the most difficult for students. The report of the Cockcroft Committee on the teaching of mathematics in schools(1) noted the need to increase the number of teachers who take mathematics as a main subject during initial training or who at a later stage undertake a substantial course of in-service training in mathematics so that there can be a sufficient supply of teachers who are able to provide leadership and help for their colleagues.

33. The Government believe that all primary teachers should be equipped to take a particular responsibility for one aspect of the curriculum (such as science, mathematics or music), to act as consultants to their colleagues on that aspect and, where appropriate, to teach it to classes other than their own.

Match in Secondary Education

34. Most secondary teaching is subject based. The importance of teachers' having appropriate subject qualifications is widely recognised. In saying that "the most important resource for good mathematics teaching is an adequate supply of competent mathematics teachers" the Cockcroft Committee expressed a similar view to that advanced in the report of the Bullock Committee(2) in relation to teachers of English. Secondary teachers need not only adequate subject expertise but also to have studied how to make their subjects accessible to pupils of different ages, needs and levels of ability, not least through lively teaching; how best to assess and promote the progress of their pupils; and the place of their subject within the whole school curriculum, and its applications in adult and working life. The secondary curriculum has itself to respond to new ideas and changing expectations, and these developments make both intellectual and professional demands on teachers which require that the teachers not only have appropriate initial academic and professional qualifications but also suitable opportunities for in-service training.

35. A survey of the staffing of secondary schools in England and Wales in 1977 found that three-quarters of the teaching time was in the hands of teachers whose main subject of highest qualification was related to the subject taught. Nevertheless in their survey(3) of secondary education HM Inspectors found' 'evidence of insufficient match in many schools between the qualifications and experience of teachers and the work they are undertaking". In particular they reported a lack of match in physics, religious education, metalwork, needlework, English and mathematics.

36. Match between type of subject qualification and level of teaching is important throughout the secondary phase. In "The New Teacher in School", HM Inspectors proposed some criteria for different academic levels. Because successful teaching for GCE Advanced level calls for deep knowledge of the subject and a grasp of the concepts, methods and disciplines associated with it, they suggested that a single subject or joint honours degree (or the equivalent) is likely to be the appropriate academic preparation. Certain single subject ordinary BA or BSc degrees and single subject ordinary or honours BEd degrees courses are also suitable.

(1) "Mathematics Counts": HMSO 1982.

(2) "A Language for Life": HMSO 1975.

(3) "Aspects of Secondary Education in England": HMSO 1979.

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37. All specialist subject teaching during the secondary phase requires teachers whose study of the subject concerned was at a level appropriate to higher education, represented a substantial part of the total higher education and training period, and built on a suitable A level base. For 16+ examination work HM Inspectors suggested that the teacher's academic background should include that subject at least as one of two or three subjects taken at the same level in a BA or BSc degree, or as a main subject in a BEd degree.

38. Groups of younger secondary pupils usually include some able pupils who show ability and attainment comparable with those of some schoolleavers, at a much younger age. The Government therefore believe that in general newly trained secondary teachers should have subject qualifications to match the teaching of at least one subject up to the level required for 16+ examinations as indicated in the preceding paragraph.

39. The Government consider that the criteria set out in paragraphs 36-38 should be regarded by employers and head teachers as important guidance when making new appointments.

40. Secondary teaching is not all subject based, and initial training and qualifications cannot provide an adequate preparation for the whole range of secondary school work. For example, teachers engaged in careers or remedial work or in providing grouped courses of vocational preparation, and those. given the responsibility for meeting special needs in ordinary schools, need to undertake these tasks not only on the basis of initial qualifications but after experience of teaching a specialist subject and preferably after appropriate post experience training. Work of this kind and the teaching of interdisciplinary studies are normally best shared among teachers with varied and appropriate specialist qualifications and experience.

Wales

41. A factor of special importance in Wales arises from the growth of Welsh language teaching and of teaching through the medium of Welsh in both primary and secondary schools. This growth calls for the building up of teacher expertise at both levels. At a time when there is an overall reduction in the numbers of teachers this enhancement of bilingual education produces problems of provision and matching in some places and for particular subjects. There is no universal solution and clearly the extent of the difficulties needs careful assessment as does the degree to which initial and in-service training must contribute to their resolution.

Conclusion

42. It is evident that mismatch can arise from a number of causes. The teacher's higher education and professional training may not have been geared closely enough to the needs of schools; or, although well prepared and well suited to his original role, he may be required to adapt to a new one, perhaps because of changes in the collective skills of the school staff over time or because of curricular developments. Employers may have made inappropriate appointments, sometimes because no suitably qualified candidate was available but increasingly nowadays because their freedom of choice may be limited by redeployment

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and redundancy problems affecting other serving teachers in their areas. Within schools, well-trained teachers may be inefficiently deployed through poor timetabling or because staff reductions have unbalanced the expertise available. Curricular changes may occur at a pace which cannot be matched by changes in the teacher force. It follows that a continual process of adjustment has to take place.

43. The Government recognise that progress in improving match can only be gradual; and that the rate of progress will depend on the size of the teacher force and the availability of other resources. But progress can and should be made. The Secretaries of State propose to survey the staffing of a sample of maintained secondary schools in England and Wales early in 1984 and to review the match between the qualifications and deployment of teachers in the light of the results. The Government intend that such surveys should be repeated at intervals of around five years.

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44. In the early 1970s 27 universities and 180 public sector institutions(1) in England and Wales were engaged in initial teacher training, producing some 40,000 newly trained teachers each year. Of these 75 per cent took non-graduate courses (mostly 2 or 3 years but also some one-year specialist courses); about 18 per cent took postgraduate initial training courses and only 7 per cent a 3 or 4 year first degree course leading to qualified teacher status. Decisions announced in 1977 reduced the system to one based on 27 universities and 84 public sector higher education institutions mainly offering a wide variety of courses but with three involved in teacher training only. The system was planned to have a total of some 39,000 places, with 20,000 admissions each year and an annual output of some 17,000 newly trained teachers. As it now operates, it offers courses of two main types: three or four-year undergraduate courses leading to a teaching qualification in which higher education and teacher training are concurrent ("BEd courses")(2) and one-year postgraduate courses ("PGCE courses"). Both types of course are available to students training for primary or for secondary teaching, but about three-quarters of the primary training intakes are to BEd courses whilst three-quarters of the secondary intakes are to PGCE courses. Most BEd places are in public sector colleges; PGCE places are distributed more evenly between the universities and the public sector.

45. The target output intended to result from the 1977 reorganisation assumed that the total teacher force in the 1980s would be larger than is now the case or is forecast for the future, and unemployment remains significant amongst newly-trained teachers. The admissions targets also assumed that recruitment to BEd courses would be stronger than has proved to be the case: after 1977 too few candidates came forward to fill the BEd training places available, whereas PGCE courses were oversubscribed, creating pressures from institutions to change the balance between the two types of course. ACSET's advice to the Secretaries of State in 1982 was that a training system of the present size could not be justified and that there needed to be significant changes of emphasis within a reduced system. In particular, it was noted that 70 per cent of the total intake was currently absorbed by training for the secondary phase, and that the system would have to swing back towards the primary phase for the rest of this decade, as the decline in primary rolls came to an end, but secondary pupil numbers continued to fall. Within both phases there ought to be a better match between trained output and the needs of schools.

(1) "Public sector institutions" include polytechnics, other establishments maintained by local education authorities and colleges provided by voluntary bodies.

2 There are also "concurrent" undergraduate BA and BSc courses where students begin their teacher training in the second or third year rather than the first. These are classed with BEd courses in later references to training.

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Recent Decisions on Re-Organisation

46. In November 1982 the Government announced further changes. Table 3 sets out the breakdown of planned admissions for 1983, 1984 and 1985 by sector phase and type of course, with the actual figures for 1981 for comparison.

47. These figures represent significant adjustments to the 1981 pattern. For the primary phase, the intention is to build up admissions as rapidly as is consistent with high training standards. For the secondary phase there will be a significant reduction in admissions. The prospect for the late 1980s is that there will be an average annual demand for some 5,000 newly-trained secondary teachers for service in maintained schools, compared with an effective output from the system of some 10,500 in 1981. After allowing for wastage in training and for the fact that some newly-trained teachers do not seek posts in maintained schools in England and Wales, the new planned intakes should produce each year an effective output of over 7,000 newly-trained secondary teachers. This figures leaves a desirable margin to allow for uncertainty in the projections and for choice is recruitment. The Government believe that a larger margin would be wasteful of resources and unfair both to students and to training institutions.

48. The planned intakes for secondary training assume a greater proportionate reduction in BEd provision than in PGCE, and a proportionately greater contribution to provision by the universities. The Government are determined to strengthen subject expertise in secondary teaching and believe that in general this aim points to the PGCE route (see paragraphs 36-38). BEd courses are being retained for training in subjects where the opportunities are limited for a first degree route to PGCE: the principal such subjects are craft, design and technology; physical education and home economics. In addition BEd still contributes usefully to training for teaching the shortage subject of mathematics. In distributing secondary PGCE numbers between universities and public sector institutions, the Government took account of the quality and numbers of recruits to training in each sector, the contribution of each to shortage subjects, the quality of staff in training institutions, and the success of

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the students in finding teaching employment. Taken together, these factors indicated a shift in the balance of provision towards the universities.

Institutional Changes

49. The nature and scale of these changes made it necessary to plan for a substantial redistribution of intakes amongst English institutions. In considering what changes there should be in planned intakes to public sector institutions the Government took into account the following criteria: the efficient use of resources; the commitment of institutions and providing bodies to teacher training; the strengths of individual institutions; the relationship between teacher training and other courses in institutions' recruitment patterns; the facilities and resources available; the relationship in individual institutions between PGCE and BEd courses; the impact of reductions in initial training on the provision of in-service training by the institution; the geographical distribution of institutions; and the proportion of places previously allocated to different denominational interests. In Wales, where the Wales Advisory Body for Local Authority Higher Education have been asked for advice on intakes to public sector institutions in 1984 and 1985, the Government have stressed the relevance of these criteria.

50. In deciding in detail how intakes should be redistributed between institutions in England the Government deliberately sought a pattern of training which would be more effective in both educational and economic terms. Allowing contraction to result in intakes spread more thinly across all existing institutions would have had damaging effects on training standards, and would have yielded unjustifiably small numbers of students on individual courses in institutions which would not have been strong enough to provide a satisfactory base for future expansion. Provisional proposals were therefore formulated on the basis of the positive strengths of individual institutions in particular areas of training. At the same time it was judged in general to be a positive merit for initial teacher training to be located in a larger diversified institution. Against that perspective, it was inevitable that a number of institutions would lose some courses or cease to be involved in teacher training altogether.

51. After widespread consultation on the basis of these provisional proposals, the Government decided that initial teacher training should be discontinued at ten public sector institutions in England and that two pairs of institutions should combine their teacher training. Together with other changes already in train this will result in initial teacher training being available in England at 35 polytechnics and colleges maintained by local education authorities, 18 voluntary colleges, and three institutions jointly maintained by local education authorities and voluntary bodies. The University Grants Committee decided that 29 universities in England and Wales should offer initial teacher training.

The Future

52. The teacher training system must continue to be responsive to changes in pupil numbers, the school curriculum and the society served by the schools. ACSET has been invited to monitor developments and to review the position in detail. HM Inspectors will continue to give close attention to teacher training. Additionally the National Advisory Body for Local Authority Higher

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Education has begun a far reaching examination of the provision of advanced further education in the local authority higher education sector in England: and the Wales Advisory Body is expected to begin a similar review soon. These exercises may have important consequences for the detailed pattern of initial teacher training. The Government believe that the principles underlying the current reshaping of the initial teacher training system will prove valid long beyond 1985. But their further application will have to take account of changes which cannot yet be precisely foreseen. The Government intend to consolidate the re-orientation of the training system in co-operation with the providing bodies.

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53. With some limited exceptions the Education (Teachers) Regulations 1982 require that persons employed to teach in maintained schools must be qualified teachers. In general that means they must have completed a course approved by the Secretary of State as a course for the initial training of teachers in schools. In "Education: A Framework for Expansion" the Government adopted the target of an all graduate school teaching profession. In the Government's view this means that the depth and rigour of initial training must be wholly commensurate with the standards which obtain generally in British higher education; and that the courses leading to qualified teacher status should equip the student for other graduate employment.

54. Entrants to the profession are now normally graduates, but this change will extend to the whole teaching force only over many years. Many serving teachers trained on certificate courses have obtained in-service BEd qualifications. Nevertheless the proportion of serving teachers who are graduates is little more than one-third. In 1978 the Government of the day decided that all entrants to initial teacher training courses should be required to have qualifications at a minimum of 0 Level Grade C or CSE Grade 1 in English and mathematics or should satisfy equivalent requirements of numeracy and literacy. All who become eligible to enter the teaching profession in or after September 1984 will have to meet this standard. The consultative document "Education in Schools" (Cmnd. 6869) called attention to the importance of including within the flow of entrants to teaching people with broad and diverse backgrounds, experience and interests, including some of the ethnic minorities, some with experience of the problems of inner-city areas, and some with previous employment in industry or commerce.

55. In' 'Education: A Framework for Expansion" , the Government accepted the case for improved induction and probation arrangements for newly trained teachers, particularly work loads which are appropriate and professional support and further training for new teachers. Financial constraints have limited progress since that time, but some progress has nevertheless been made. The Education (Teachers) Regulations 1982 gave further responsibilities to local education authorities for the handling of probation, and Administrative Memorandum 1/83(1) sets out guidance for the discharge of these responsibilities.

56. At the request of the Secretaries of State ACSET has considered the structure and content of initial training courses and whether changes are needed. To assist the Committee HM Inspectors prepared a discussion paper; a revised version of that discussion paper(2) has now been published, and ACSET's advice is at Annex B to this paper.

(1) Issued by the Department of Education and Science and the Welsh Office in January 1983.

(2) "Teaching in Schools: The Content of Initial Training": available free from DES.

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57. In brief ACSET recommended that the Secretaries of State should establish criteria which they would take into account when deciding whether or not to approve initial selection of students, the level and amount of subject content of courses (including, for the PGCE route, first degrees), to professional content and to links between training institutions and schools.

58. The approval by the Secretaries of State of initial teacher training courses is quite distinct from validation of courses for academic purposes. Responsibility for academic validation rests with the validating bodies (i.e. certain universities and the Council for National Academic Awards). These bodies have established professional committees, representing teachers and their employers, to advise them on the professional aspects of courses. The approval by the Secretaries of State of new courses of initial training rests on the recommendation of these committees, who have interpreted their task in a variety of ways. ACSET proposed further work with the aim of submitting recommendations to the Secretaries of State by the end of July 1983, to enable reconstituted professional committees to be established.

59. ACSET also recommended that a satisfactory level of professional competence, including practical teaching skills, should be a necessary condition for the award of a BEd degree or a PGCE, and that wherever possible institutions should adopt course patterns which would identify as early as possible students in BEd courses who were academically competent but unlikely to display satisfactory professional competence, and which would permit them to transfer to a different course leading to an academic qualification without qualified teacher status.

60. The Government's response to those recommendations is set out below (paragraphs 63-68). The Government look forward to ACSET's further advice on criteria and on the reconstruction of professional committees.

61. During the summer of 1982, the Department of Education and Science issued a consultation paper on qualified teacher status, addressing the desirability of directing initial teacher training courses more specifically to particular ages of pupils and particular subjects, and matching more closely the tasks of teachers with their qualifications and training. Many comments argued against measures which would lead to rigid central control of initial training courses or would inflexibly restrict the teaching undertaken by individual teachers. But there was wide agreement on the importance of achieving a good match. ACSET commented:

"The Committee welcomes the emphasis placed on the relationship between initial and subsequent training and the tasks teachers are asked to undertake in schools. It underlines the importance of relevance in initial training courses and corollary that attention should be paid to the academic requirements and professional content in relation to the needs of teachers of particular phases and subjects".

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Criteria for the Approval of Initial Training Courses

63. The Secretaries of State propose to promulgate criteria, drawn up in consultation with the appropriate professional and academic bodies through ACSET against which they will in future assess initial training courses before deciding whether to approve them. These criteria will relate to both professional and academic content of courses, and to good working relationships with schools. They will provide a framework within which training institutions and professional committees will be able to plan and scrutinise courses before submitting them to the Secretaries of State for approval. The Secretaries of State propose to re-establish the professional committees with fresh guidelines and with constitutions to be approved by them. In approving courses they will not seek to duplicate the work of the institutions and committees, but rather to satisfy themselves that individual course proposals are consistent with the published criteria. Once the criteria are published, the Secretaries of State will initiate a review of all existing approved courses of initial training. They may withdraw approval from those courses which do not conform to the criteria.

64. The Secretaries of State intend that the criteria should impose three broad requirements:

(i) that the higher education and initial teacher training of all qualified teachers should include at least two full years' course time devoted to subject studies at a level appropriate to higher education. For the primary years a wide area of the curriculum might constitute the student's specialism, whereas for secondary teaching the two years should be spent in the study of either one or two subjects of the secondary curriculum. This requirement would recognise teachers' need for subject expertise if they are to have the confidence and ability to enthuse pupils and respond to their curiosity in their chosen subject fields. For PGCE courses, the requirement would be expressed in terms of the preceding first degree course and its relationship to particular PGCE courses and the curricular needs of schools. For BEd and other concurrent courses, the requirement would be expressed in terms of course structure and content; and in the case of courses for teaching pupils of primary school age the content should include the application of the subjects involved to the learning of young children;

(ii) that the initial training of all qualified teachers should include adequate attention to teaching method in the chosen main subjects, differentiated by age of intended pupils. All primary training courses should include a sufficient, and substantial, element concerned with language and mathematics development;

(iii) that the initial teacher training of all qualified teachers should include studies closely linked with practical experience in school, and involving the active participation of experienced practising school teachers. Satisfactory local arrangements to this end would have to be established. The Department of Education and Science has recently commissioned a research project to monitor and evaluate four examples of such arrangements, so as to assist the development of good practice.

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train the entrants to an all-graduate profession. In addition, in order to satisfy the third requirement, a sufficient proportion of each training institution's staff should have enjoyed success as teachers in schools, and their school experience should be recent, substantial and relevant. Many of the staff do not now have such experience. Those of the staff who are concerned with pedagogy should also have continuing regular contact with classroom teaching. This will not be easy to achieve at a time when total staff numbers in training institutions are either constant or decreasing. The training institutions should therefore now take steps, in consultation with local education authorities and schools, to ensure that there is sufficient recent teaching experience among relevant staff through, e.g., secondments, the use of joint teacher/tutor appointments and schemes of teacher/tutor exchange. The establishment of close links between training institutions and suitable schools in their vicinity will facilitate arrangements along these lines. When considering courses for approval the Secretaries of State will expect an indication of how the training institution provides the recent teaching experience needed.

66. The Government are also concerned that the training institutions should improve the selection of students for training; and should recommend for qualified teacher status only those students who have displayed the requisite practical and personal qualities as well as academic competence. At present some 20 per cent of those who enter training courses fail to complete them satisfactorily. The Government recognise the difficulties of selection, but they believe that all institutions should now review their procedures for assessing the intellectual and personal qualities of candidates, and their professional potential. Participation of suitable practising teachers in the selection process is desirable. Where mature students are recruited to undergraduate training courses they may bring with them the advantages of a wider experience; but training institutions should satisfy themselves that those who lack the formal academic qualifications normally required are intellectually capable of completing a degree course successfully. The appraisal of a PGCE applicant should include an examination of the suitability of the first degree for the training sought.

67. Entrants to higher education often benefit from a year or so outside the education system between obtaining A levels and entering higher education. It is particularly helpful for intending teachers to break the cycle of school-college-school with some experience of industry or commerce. Young people thinking about a career in teaching should also seek to gain experience of the classroom. At an early stage, working. with the teaching staff of a school may assist their choice of career. Candidates accepted for a course of initial training should whenever possible acquire teaching experience before their course begins.

68. Some persons who are judged to complete the training course satisfactorily then prove unsuccessful when appointed to teaching. posts: in some cases this may be because the training institutions are reluctant to fail students who have performed satisfactorily from an academic point of view throughout a three or four year BEd course, when their classroom performance is suspect. More rigorous selection at the point of entry to training should reduce such cases. Where they do occur, the training institution should consider the transfer of the student to a course or, in consultation with its validating body, the award of

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some form of qualification, which does not lead to qualified teacher status. The Secretaries of State will expect institutions not to award to a student whose practical classroom work is not satisfactory a BEd degree or PGCE which entitles him to recognition as a qualified teacher.

The Qualification of Teachers

69. A course approved under the new criteria will prepare teachers to work with pupils within a specific age range, and in the case of secondary courses to teach specific subjects. As now, the Secretary of State for Education and Science will issue formal letters notifying those who successfully complete courses of initial training that they have been recognised by the Secretary of State as qualified school teachers. These letters will specifically draw attention to the phase and subjects for which the course of initial training was intended, and in the case of primary courses indicate any relevant curricular specialism. This action will not formally limit the teacher to teaching programmes within the indicated phase or subject areas, but it will be important to the teacher's employer in relation to his obligations under the Education (Teachers) Regulations 1982.

70. These Regulations require the employment of a staff of teachers in any school suitable and sufficient in numbers for the purpose of securing the provision of education appropriate to the ages, abilities, aptitudes and needs of the pupils. The Government propose to amend the Regulations so as to require employers to have regard to the formal qualifications of teachers in determining whether or not the staff of teachers in any school is suitable. HM Inspectors, following their formal inspections of schools, will be asked to report on the extent to which the qualifications of the teaching staff conform to the requirements of the amended Regulations. After a five-year period the Secretary of State will institute a general review of progress in the light of the reports received.

71. Paragraph 2(e) of Schedule 5 of the same Regulations provides that persons who possess qualifications approved by the Secretary of State in individual cases on the recommendation of a local education authority shall be qualified teachers. This provision admits persons with qualifications not normally acceptable in their own right but which are required to meet an identified need and which are acceptable to the Secretary of State. Most teachers now so qualified have qualifications or experience related to further education. The needs of young people aged from 14 to 19 for pre-vocational education are now more widely acknowledged and are likely to make it desirable to use this provision more frequently. The Secretary of State will continue to judge each case on its merits. He proposes to amend the Regulations to enable him, when approving qualifications or experience which are suited only to work with pupils of secondary school age, to limit that approval to teaching in secondary schools.

72. The Education (Teachers) Regulations 1982 also provide for the exemption from initial training as a teacher for those possessing approved special qualifications who have been offered teaching posts in maintained schools. Since 1973 degrees in mathematics and science. have been so approved for teaching in secondary schools, because there has been an inadequate supply of trained teachers of these subjects. There are still shortages of such teachers in the

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schools, although currently the supply of trained teachers of these subjects broadly matches vacancies for them. In these circumstances, and taking account of advice from ACSET and the views of the Cockcroft Committee, the Secretary of State intends to withdraw the present blanket exemption from the training requirement for graduates in these subjects from 31st December 1983. From that date the Secretary of State will, however, stand ready to consider recognising as qualified teachers under paragraph 2(e) of Schedule 5 of the Regulations untrained graduates in mathematics and science, in individual cases and on supply grounds on the recommendation of local education authorities. He judges that this will be a sufficient protection for supply in present circumstances.

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73. The consultative document "Education in Schools" (Cmnd. 6869) said in 1977 that employing authorities would need to develop more systematic approaches to the recruitment, career development, training and deployment of the teacher force. Since then the reduction in pupil numbers and the associated contraction of schoolteacher numbers have heightened the urgency for such action and, at the same time, added to the difficulties facing those managing the service locally. Curricular needs have changed, and will continue to change, and so must the expertise and experience which teachers collectively offer. Contraction poses special problems for the curriculum as well as for the careers of many teachers. These are especially severe where numbers are falling most rapidly. Up to now most of the contraction has taken place within the primary phase. But, as noted in Section 2, its main weight over the next decade will fall on the secondary schools where the more differentiated qualifications required make teachers less interchangeable. In-service training is increasingly needed to enable teachers to keep up-to-date and to equip them for new developments in the curriculum: All these problems have to be managed within the resources available for education, and in a manner which preserves and fosters professionalism and commitment among teachers, protects the curricular opportunities of pupils, and maintains a sound base. for future development. The task of management falls mainly to local education authorities. But school governors too have an important role, and governors of voluntary aided and special agreement schools have special responsibilities as the employers of the teachers at these schools.

74. Local staffing policies have to meet two requirements. They have to secure a satisfactory curriculum in each school and to accord with the employer's view on the number of teachers it is right to employ within total expenditure limits. Authorities will therefore have to bear in mind the important effect which patterns of school organisation have on staffing. Small schools, particularly secondary schools, can provide and adequately staff the curriculum only through high staffing ratios: in the smallest primary schools, high staffing ratios may also be needed to avoid teaching too wide an age range of pupils within a class. The population distribution makes it inevitable that there should be some small schools which are staffed at disproportionate expense. But whenever a small school continues without such justification, it may be impossible to staff it adequately without damaging consequences for the staffing of other schools. It is therefore important that wherever possible authorities should rationalise the organisation of their schools so that the available teachers can be deployed to best advantage.

75. Staffing decisions should not be based only on pupil numbers. They should also take into account the curricular needs of each school. Some authorities are now developing curriculum-led planning under which judgements about appropriate curricula for the schools in the area are combined with assumptions about the internal organisational implications-sizes of teaching groups, for

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example, and teacher contact with classes-to yield staffing figures which can then be examined in the light of the authority's expenditure policies. The Government welcome such developments, as a way of bringing curricular considerations to the fore in staffing decisions, illuminating the curricular, staffing and cost implications of various patterns of provision, and encouraging the most effective deployment between schools of the teachers available.

Managing the Teacher Force

76. The number of teachers employed by local authorities and voluntary schools will continue to decline for some years, but during the mid-1980s that decline will be largely among secondary teachers. To the extent that this reduction is not achieved through "natural wastage"(1) or premature retirement of teachers aged 50 or more who do not have to be replaced, it can only be achieved through compulsory redundancies among teachers under the age of 50.

77. But contraction is not merely a matter of reducing teacher numbers. Local authorities will need to manage it in ways which improve the match between teacher expertise and subjects taught; minimise longer-term damage from the changing age structure of the teacher force (see paragraph 12 above); maintain a reasonable, if necessarily low, inflow of newly qualified teachers whose high calibre, standard of qualification and up-to-date subject knowledge are important to the quality of schools and who need to be recruited now to provide leadership in schools in the coming decades; and raise professional standards by retaining and encouraging the best and most committed teachers.

78. Some of the management instruments available to·local authorities and to governors are neutral - or nearly so - in their effects on match and standards. Natural wastage, for example, is essentially independent of the calibre and qualifications of the teacher who leaves. Other instruments, such as the Premature Retirement Compensation scheme, are selective. Access to premature retirement compensation is not a right. In considering teachers who might be granted such terms local authorities should aim to improve the match between the curriculum and the specialisms of the remaining teachers, and to retain the services of effective high calibre staff. The scheme is expected to result in the departure from the profession of 5,000-10,000 teachers annually over the next few years. If it is used indiscriminately, there will be a missed opportunity to help with the problems of match and quality. Local authorities should also consider whether there is scope to use the premature retirement arrangements beyond the point required by their teacher number targets, so as to increase their recruitment of newly trained teachers, inject new blood, and promote a healthy long-term structure in their teacher force.

79. The most powerful single instrument available to authorities may be the redeployment of teachers from one school to another. In the Government's view, where the local education authority is the employer, the teacher's contract should normally be for service in the whole, or a major part, of the authority'S area, rather than with a particular school. Fuller use of redeployment will allow more of the vacancies arising from normal turnover to be filled by serving teachers with the right subject or other competence, but who are no longer

(1) Normal age retirements together with resignations and retirements in early or mid-career for whatever reason.

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needed in their present posts. The education service owes existing teachers whose posts become redundant opportunities for redeployment, with the assistance of in-service training where appropriate, provided suitable vacancies can be found for them. Unwelcome as redeployment may be to the individual teacher, the more it can be used the better the prospects of avoiding substantial redundancies and unacceptable damage to school curricula. Carefully considered and sensitively organised transfers should help to maintain the morale of staff in contracting schools.

80. Employers should adopt planned redeployment as a means of using teachers more effectively whether or not their teacher force is contracting. Able teachers who have served their apprenticeship under experienced colleagues should be helped to move to other schools where their talents can be more fully exploited. Experienced teachers who have given good service for a sustained period in one post may need the stimulus provided by a change of school. Some particularly demanding posts should not be held by one individual for too long. In the Government's view, redeployment should be part of a planned approach to school staffing, and not an option of last resort when a teacher is no longer required in a school. In some cases short-term contracts may be useful. The claims of teachers available for redeployment to be considered for vacancies in their own area must nevertheless be weighed against the merits of open competition to seek the best available teachers to fill vacant posts. The Government look to employers to give due weight to the latter, particularly in filling the more senior posts.

81. Concern for quality demands that in the small minority of cases where, despite in-service training arrangements, teachers fail to maintain a satisfactory standard of performance, employers must, in the interests of pupils, be ready to use procedures for dismissal. In this context it is relevant to note that while employment protection legislation provides most employees with a right not to be unfairly dismissed, unsatisfactory performance can be sufficient reason for fair dismissal.

82. The Government also believe that authorities should consider the appointment of more part-time teachers to provide specialist teaching in subjects for which the demand within a single school does not justify a full-time appointment. In some cases such teachers could be employed full-time, but in more than one school; in other cases they could be engaged part-time in other employment.

83. Head teachers, and other senior staff with management responsibilities within the schools, are of crucial importance. Only if they are effective managers of their teaching staffs and the material resources available to them, as well as possessing the qualities needed for effective educational leadership, can schools offer their pupils the quality of education which they have a right to expect. This is why the Government attaches the importance noted in paragraph 87 to in-service training for senior staff in schools. It is equally important that the appointment procedures for heads should be carefully designed, and linked with the assessment procedures discussed in the previous paragraph, to select those best suited to the work involved. The Government welcome the attention given

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to these issues by local authorities in recent years, including the possible use of short-term contracts, which may have a part to play. It is for this reason that the Department of Education and Science has provided financial support for a research project which has been examining the practice of local authorities in connection with the selection and appointment of head teachers for secondary schools. The final report from this project is expected soon.

Induction and In-Service Training

84. The Government adhere to the view expressed in "Education: A Framework for Expansion", that there is no major profession to which a new entrant, however thorough his initial training, can be expected immediately to make a full contribution. Teachers in their first teaching posts need, and should be released part-time to profit from, a systematic programme of professional initiation and guidance, and further study where necessary.

85. Arrangements for the probation of new teachers fall within the scope of induction programmes, but are not to be identified with them. The induction period should normally extend beyond the probationary period. It is particularly during the probationary period that the new teachers should be given reduced teaching loads and other appropriate support.(1)

86. As with induction support, so with in-service training: the local education authorities, as the employers of most teachers, must bear the primary responsibility for providing in-service training-including school-based training-to meet the changing needs of the school system. The Government's expenditure plans allow for release to in-service training and induction to be maintained at least at current levels, and steps are being taken to introduce in 1983-84 a limited scheme of central Government grants intended both to increase the total amount of in-service training and also to concentrate part of that training on certain key areas.

87. The first phase of these grants will amount to about £7m. up to the end of the academic year 1983-84, providing for the release of over 3,000 teachers on courses of varying lengths. The expenditure will be directed in the first instance towards the following priority areas: management training for heads and other senior staff; mathematics teaching, with particular regard to the report of the Cockcroft Committee; teaching the 16-19 age group; special educational needs in ordinary schools; and bilingual needs in Wales. Among these priorities the Government attach particular importance to the training needs of head teachers and other senior staff. In addition to the grants referred to above, funds have also been earmarked within the Department's regional course programme for the provision of relevant courses, and the Government will fund from 1983-84 a national project to support appropriate training courses and activities.

Career Development, Professionalism and Performance

88. The Government regard it as essential that school teaching should be a stimulating and rewarding career for the competent and committed classroom teacher.

(1) Government guidance on these matters is set out in Administrative Memorandum 1/83.

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89. Teachers' professionalism should be encouraged by improved policies for career development within schools and local authorities, and a clearer definition of individual teachers' tasks within the school and of their responsibilities to parents and those to whom the school is ultimately accountable.

90. The Government see important connections between the structure of the salary scales on which teachers are paid and policies for promoting commitment and high standards of professional performance amongst teachers. It is common ground between the Government, the local authority employers and the teacher associations that the present pay structure should be modified, and all parties share a concern that the discussions on salary structure which were agreed as part of the 1981 Burnham settlement should be pursued as rapidly as possible towards a structure better suited to the needs of the 1980s. In the Government's view the salary structure should be designed to offer relatively greater rewards to the best classroom teachers as well as to encourage good teachers to seek wider responsibilities in senior posts.

91. In-service training has an important part to play in the career development of teachers. In the Government's view all teachers need from time to time to avail themselves of in-service training. There should also be it closer and clearer relationship between training (including in-service training), experience and qualifications on the one hand and deployment - including promotion - on the other.

92. The Government welcome recent moves towards self-assessment by schools and teachers, and believe these should help to improve school standards and curricula. But employers can manage their teacher force effectively only if they have accurate knowledge of each teacher's performance. The Government believe that for this purpose formal assessment of teacher performance is necessary and should be based on classroom visiting by the teacher's head or head of department, and an appraisal of both pupils' work and of the teacher's contribution to the life of the school. They therefore welcome the interest currently shown among employers and the teachers' associations about the career development and professional assessment of teachers. HM Inspectors are collecting evidence about the extent and effectiveness of practices for teacher assessment and self-evaluation in schools, and will make this evidence more widely available. The Government believe that those responsible for managing the school teacher force have a clear responsibility to establish, in consultation with their teachers, a policy for staff deployment and training based on a systematic assessment of every teacher's performance and related to their policy for the school curriculum.

Conclusion

93. Teaching and educational quality go together. It is the teachers who have to shoulder most of the task of giving to the children and young people in our schools the education which attempts to measure up to the nation's aspirations. They are performing that task with professionalism and skill. But still further progress is needed. The Government believe that the policies and proposals set out in this paper will sustainedly improve the quality of the teacher force in the years ahead.

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94. The supply and training of teachers for service in England is the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Education and Science, and in Wales of the Secretary of States for Wales. The Secretary of State for Education and Science is responsible for teachers' qualifications throughout England and Wales. The two Secretaries of State are both advised by the Advisory Committee on the Supply and Education of Teachers. Arrangements for the supply, training and qualification of teachers in Scotland are the responsibility of the Secretary of State for Scotland, and are not covered in this paper. The Secretary of State for Scotland announced in February measures to improve the training of teachers in Scotland (Hansard, 4th February 1983, cols. 201-202).

95. Schoolteachers in England and Wales are employed in nursery, primary and secondary schools maintained by local education authorities, in special schools for handicapped pupils (both maintained and non-maintained) and in independent schools. In 1982 439,000 teachers were paid by local education authorities for service in maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools; 20,000 teachers worked in special schools; and 43,000 in independent schools. Within the total of 439,000 teachers in maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools, 377 ,000 were employed by local education authorities for service in county, controlled and nursery schools and the remainder were employed by the governors of voluntary aided and special agreement schools. Local education authorities pay all teachers employed in maintained schools and have the power to determine the number employed in each school. The governing bodies of maintained schools have an important role in the selection and management of staff; and their responsibilities in this regard depend on the legal status of the school.

96. Employment in maintained schools and in non-maintained special schools is normally restricted to teachers qualified in terms of the Education (Teachers) Regulations. The Secretaries of State have a duty to ensure that there are sufficient facilities for the training of teachers for maintained schools; and local education authorities and other employing bodies have a duty to ensure that each maintained school has a staff of teachers suitable and sufficient in numbers for the education provided. Independent schools are not restricted as to the qualifications of persons whom they employ to teach, but the provision of efficient and suitable instruction, having regard to the ages and sex of the pupils in these schools is a condition of their registration. Local education authorities must pay the teachers whom they employ on the salary scales set out in the documents prepared by the Secretary of State for Education and Science under the Remuneration of Teachers Act 1965. Independent schools determine the salaries of their teachers.

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97. This paper is concerned mainly with the teachers employed in maintained nursery, primary and secondary schools. Insofar as independent schools employ teachers trained on the same courses as those in maintained schools, much of what is said in the document will conduce to the improvement of the quality of teaching in independent schools; and the Government seek to foster cooperation between teachers in the maintained and independent sectors.

98. Lecturers in maintained or assisted further education establishments number about 101,000 (full-time equivalent). Initial training is not required for teaching in further education; and those lecturers who take it mostly attend courses which are separate from those for schoolteachers. However many further education lecturers teach courses, notably for the General Certificate of Education, of a kind also found in schools; and what the paper says about the requirements for teaching such courses holds good in whatever institutions they are offered.

99. Teachers in special schools receive initial training alongside teachers in ordinary schools and many teachers transfer between ordinary and special schools in the course of their careers. This paper does not deal with the additional training and qualifications appropriate for the teaching of pupils in special schools. The paper' does refer (paragraph 87) to the provision of in-service training for teachers in ordinary schools who work with pupils having special educational needs.

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Advice to the Secretaries of State from the Advisory Committee on the Supply and Education of Teachers.

100. The Secretaries of State have asked for advice on ways in which initial teacher training might be improved. We have undertaken this work bearing in mind the DES consultation paper on qualified teacher status (on which we have already offered comments) which envisaged among other things that all initial teacher training courses might be reviewed; the HM Inspectorate paper on the content of initial teacher training courses which has now been revised and published in its own right; HM Inspectorate reports on "The New Teacher in School" and the earlier national primary and secondary surveys; the DES support for school-based initial teacher training and the IT-INSET projects; the recent restructuring of the initial teacher training system; the importance attached by the Government and local education authorities to in-service training as indicated by provision in successive expenditure White Papers and the introduction of the new in-service training grants; and points made in public statements about initial teacher training by the Secretary of State for Education and Science.

The present distribution of responsibilities

101. Statutory responsibility for the granting of professional recognition as a teacher in England and Wales rests with the Secretary of State. Schedule 5 of the Education (Teachers) Regulations 1982 sets out the present arrangements. With certain specified exceptions recognition as a qualified teacher is acquired on successful completion of a teacher training course approved for the purpose by the Secretary of State. This approval is quite distinct from the validation of courses for academic purposes. The Secretary of State's powers of professional approval apply to both university and public sector courses.

102. The Education (Teachers) Regulations 1982 are so framed that candidates who successfully complete an approved initial teacher training course are automatically awarded qualified teacher status. Thus, the assessment of professional suitability, in addition to academic suitability, is an integral part of the training process. It is not now subject to a separate recommendation from the training institution to the Secretary of State.

103. The need for approval by the Secretary of State is of relatively recent origin. Until 1975, when they were rescinded, the Training of Teachers Regulations 1967 specified that it was a responsibility of "relevant organisations", defined as "the Area Training Organisation or other body approved by the Secretary of State", to supervise courses of training and advise on the approval of persons as teachers in schools. With the repeal of the Regulations, ATOs were

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disbanded. At the same time Circular 5/75 stated in relation to initial teacher training:

"In approving courses for the purposes of the new Schools Regulation 16(2)(a)(i) [since replaced by the Education (Teachers) Regulations 1982] the Secretary of State will wish to satisfy himself that the body awarding the degree or certificate has established a committee or delegacy on which members of the teaching profession and their employers are suitably represented to advise, inter alia, on the professional aspects of such courses, including their duration, standard and academic supervision and the adequacy of the arrangements of the institutions providing them for recommending suitability for the teaching profession. These committees will therefore have a supervisory function over courses leading to qualified teacher status and over arrangements for recommending suitability for the teaching profession comparable with that exercised by the former Area Training Organisations".

104. There is a wide measure of agreement both within and beyond ACSET that the establishment of a General Teaching Council, which among other things might advise on the control of entry and approve courses of training, remains a desirable objective. Proposals for the establishment of such a body were published in the Weaver Report on "A Teaching Council for England and Wales" (HMSO 1970). It has so far proved difficult to achieve agreement about the form and constitution of such a Council and despite independent initiatives such as those of the College of Preceptors, the future existence of a General Teaching Council cannot be relied upon as a basis for immediate policy decisions.

105. Meanwhile we believe that within the existing framework of responsibilities there is scope for securing improvement in the professional approval and monitoring of initial teacher training courses while at the same time preserving and encouraging worthwhile diversity, protecting the autonomy of academic validating bodies, and strengthening processes of individual and institutional evaluation and review.

Criteria for the Approval of Courses

106. We recognise the Secretaries of State's concern that the power to approve initial teacher training courses should be used appropriately and to good effect. To this end, we believe that the Secretary of State should establish. criteria which he will take into account in deciding whether or not to approve, or to continue to approve, individual courses. In so recommending, we distinguish between the function of the Secretary of State's approval and the validation and award of academic qualifications. We believe that the Secretary of State should be concerned with the broad framework and structure of courses leaving detailed content to academic institutions and their validating bodies.

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107. In our view the Secretaries of State should seek to use the existing powers to ensure as far as possible that those awarded qualified teacher status (i) possess suitable personal qualities, (ii) have achieved appropriate academic standards, (iii) have acquired sufficient professional and practical knowledge and skills. Criteria for approving initial teacher training courses should therefore relate to the initial selection of student, to the level and amount of subject content of courses (including first degrees in the case of PGCE courses), to professional content and to links between training institutions and schools. We believe that ACSET provides an appropriate forum in which to develop such criteria and to offer advice to the Secretaries of State.

108. We attach great importance to there being a satisfactory match between teachers' qualifications and training, including in-service training, and the teaching programmes they undertake. So far as initial teacher training is concerned we believe that, while recognising the complexities of the school system and the difficulties posed by the 16-19 group, this principle points towards courses which will train teachers to deal with a specific age range such as 3-8, 7-12 or 13, or 11-18. Primary training courses should be designed to equip teachers to cover the primary curriculum appropriate to the age range concerned and also to have additional expertise in one particular area. Secondary teachers have a narrower curriculum focus related in the main to one or more school subjects and secondary courses should be designed to equip students accordingly. These considerations apply to all initial training for school teachers, whether undergraduate or postgraduate. In the latter case the first degree courses must necessarily provide the subject base for training.

109. Initial teacher training cannot equip teachers for their whole careers, nor for every kind of teaching work that they may subsequently undertake; and, however effective their initial training, new teachers will have particular needs in their first year of service. Induction, on which we propose to offer advice, has an essential part to play here. Initial training should not aim to equip teachers as specialists in, for example, careers work or special education. Teachers who wish to specialise in such areas should do so after a period of teaching experience in ordinary schools. It is therefore vital that sufficient in-service training opportunities of the right kind should be available and accessible to meet the needs for such specialist teachers. In-service training is important for all teachers and will be essential for those who wish to extend their teaching into a different subject or age range. We also propose to offer advice on in-service training.

Selection of Students

110. Students entering a course of initial teacher training should be expected to meet general criteria appropriate for entry into the teaching profession as a whole, and particular criteria specific to the courses for which they are candidates. We acknowledge that selection is extremely difficult and we recognise that institutions make efforts to adopt rigorous selection procedures. Nevertheless in the recent past the persistent imbalance between demand for and supply of initial'. teacher training places may have contributed to the admission of some unsuitable candidates. In our view there can be no justification for admitting to initial teacher training individuals who, academic competence apart, lack the qualities likely to enable them to become successful teachers, even if this leads to

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shortages in some areas. Entry to a training course should continue to rely, in part, on success at interview and should not depend totally on academic qualifications, letters of application and professional references. Interview may be unreliable as a self-standing instrument of selection, but it provides valuable evidence about important oral skills as well as giving candidates themselves otherwise unavailable information about the requirements of courses. As far as possible, intending teachers should be encouraged to obtain some experience in schools before embarking upon a training course.

Structure of Initial Teacher Training Courses

111. The intention should be that criteria would go some way to defining the structure of initial teacher training courses in terms of their aims and the knowledge, skills and other qualities needed by school teachers. They should reflect the best of current practice and reinforce an approach to initial teacher training which recognises the practical application of academic and pedagogic skills and which is sufficiently flexible to allow new developments to take place. The criteria would also provide employers of teachers and students themselves with a clearer idea of the range of training which new teachers undergo.

Links with LEAs, Schools and the Profession

112. Lack of recruitment and opportunities to posts in teacher training as a consequence of the rundown of the 1970s means that there are now many initial trainers without recent teaching experience in schools, and too few have sufficient regular contact with classroom teaching. Considerable emphasis needs to be placed on the quality of collaboration with schools, to ensure that initial training includes appropriate elements of professional and educational studies closely linked with practical experience, and involving active participation by experienced teachers. It is not only teacher trainers who benefit from close contact with the current work of schools. It is also schools themselves, where the experience and knowledge of colleagues from training institutions represent a valuable source of external support. We commend the principle of joint teacher/lecturer appointments and of teacher/lecturer exchange and believe that training institutions should have close working relationships with local education authorities.

113. We believe that the Secretary of State should take full account of the quality of collaboration between training institutions and schools. Touchstones for the professional recognition of courses should be their ability to provide basic and appropriate curriculum knowledge, professional competence, and classroom skills. This will require redeployment of resources, probably with some increase at the margin. We believe that the Secretary of State should take into account institutions' arrangements for ensuring that staff are able to keep themselves aware of current work in schools. Those staff concerned with pedagogy should themselves be trained teachers and this should be reflected in future appointments.

The Role of Professional Committees

114. As explained above, the Secretary of State's approval of courses presently rests on the advice of professional committees or delegacies. Although no formal survey of their work has so far been undertaken there appears to be con-

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siderable variety in the way in which they have interpreted their task. In some areas, the emphasis has been more on monitoring the arrangements whereby institutions made recommendations on qualified teacher status to DES, rather than assessing the professional content and suitability of courses.

115. We affirm that professional committees have an important part to play in the improvement of teacher training. We believe that there is a need for a clearer distinction between professional approval and academic validation than is presently the case. The introduction of criteria and of reviews of existing courses would change the nature of the task that professional committees are asked to undertake. We therefore recommend that they should be re-established with constitutions acceptable to the respective validating bodies and approved by the Secretary of State. Their constitutions should provide for representation of teachers and employers, and their structures and methods of working should encourage effective participation of all these parties. The guidelines in Circular 5/75 should be reviewed. The location and administrative base of the Committees and their relationship with a possible General Teaching Council are matters which require further consideration. ACSET proposes to offer advice on all these issues.

Steps to be Taken

116. Our work so far calls for (i) the reconstitution of the professional committees, and (ii) development of criteria for use by the Secretary of State in approving initial teacher training courses. ACSET could undertake responsibility for such work as needs to be done immediately. The work would include (a) a survey of existing professional committees and delegacies and consideration of the extent to which their present terms of reference, membership and procedures are satisfactory in relation to the tasks assigned to them and (b) the preparation of advice, taking account of relevant views expressed by HM Inspectorate and others, on the criteria that should be applied when approving a course of initial teacher training. If this were acceptable we would aim to submit our recommendations by the end of July 1983 to enable the Secretary of State to use the new criteria from the beginning of the autumn term when approving new courses and subsequently reviewing existing courses, and to enable reestablished professional committees to contribute to the process of course review and reapproval as soon as possible thereafter. The timetable for these reviews of existing courses should be determined in conjunction with the validating bodies,

117. There is presently an automatic link between the award of an approved BEd or PGCE or other approved qualification and qualified teacher status. We believe that satisfactory completion of an approved initial teacher training course must carry with it the clear view of the training institution that the individuals have not only completed the academic part of their course satisfactorily but also have acceptable professional competence including practical teaching skills. We recommend that institutions should explicitly certify, when notifying DES, that the student has satisfactorily completed the professional component of his course. This judgment should be at least partly dependent on the assessment by the school at which final teaching practice takes place.

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118. In the absence of an adequate level of professional competence, a PGCE, which is solely concerned with building professional skills upon an existing academic base, should not be awarded. However rigorous the selection for BEd courses, and the extent of pre-course experience, it is inevitable that some students will prove not to be suited to teaching but will, nevertheless, be of sufficient academic ability to complete a course of higher education. Wherever possible it is desirable that institutions should develop arrangements which enable those students who are academically competent but not successful in the classroom to divert to a different course or be awarded at the end of a three or four year course a different academic qualification which does not carry with it qualified teacher status. Institutions should bear in mind restrictions imposed by the Awards Regulations. They should be encouraged to adopt course patterns, including links with schools, which identify as early as possible students who are unlikely to display satisfactorily the professional competence which will be needed.

Summary of Recommendations

119. We recommend that:

(a) ACSET should undertake further work with the aim of submitting recommendations by the end of July 1983 to enable the Secretary of State to establish criteria to be taken into account in deciding whether to approve or re-approve initial training courses (paragraphs 106 and 116).

(b) The criteria should relate to the initial selection of students, the level and amount of subject content of courses, professional content, and links between training institutions and schools and should reflect the complexities of the educational system (paragraphs 107 -113).

(c) ACSET should undertake further work, with the aim of submitting recommendations by the end of July 1983, to enable reconstituted professional committees to be established (paragraphs 115 and 116),

(d) The satisfactory completion of an approved initial teacher training course must include acceptable professional competence including practical teaching skills (paragraph 117).

(e) Wherever possible institutions should be encouraged to adopt course patterns which identify as early as possible students who are academically competent but unlikely to display satisfactory professional competence and which permit them to transfer to a different course leading to an academic qualification without qualified teacher status (paragraph 118).