Nicholas Brown – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Nicholas Brown on 2014-04-29.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department issues on what criteria schools should use when deciding whether to employ an individual who does not possess a formal teaching qualification as a teacher.

Mr David Laws

The Department for Education does not issue guidance prescribing the criteria that schools should use when employing teaching staff.

The latest school workforce statistics (November 2013) show that the overwhelming majority (96%) of teachers in state-funded schools hold qualified teacher status.

Headteachers are best-placed to make decisions about the qualifications, skills and experience they need in their teaching staff. They are held to account for those decisions through inspection and the publication of school performance data.