Entry requirements for teacher training courses in higher education are too low and undergraduate programmes in this area should be scrapped, according to a committee of MPs.

The Government should ultimately aim to restrict entry to postgraduate teacher training to those with a 2:1 degree or above, the House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Committee says in a report published on 9 February.

The cross-party panel of MPs criticise the ¡°particularly low¡± entry requirements on undergraduate courses for those wanting to teach in secondary schools, saying funding for such programmes should cease.

They add that universities should involve research-active staff in teacher training courses to raise the ¡°rigour and status¡± of the programmes.

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Barry Sheerman, the committee chairman, said: ¡°Teaching must be seen as an attractive career option for high-achieving individuals. Entry requirements should be raised, and there must be better support for teachers once they are in post.¡±

The report suggests that the Government should move to restrict access to postgraduate certificates in education to those with at least a 2:2 degree ¡°as soon as possible¡±, with a longer-term goal to move to a minimum 2:1 requirement.

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David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party, has already put forward similar proposals.

The report also supports a new masters in teaching and learning qualification, adding that teaching should become a masters-level profession.

¡°While we do not believe that the masters in teaching and learning should be compulsory, we would like to see introduced much stronger incentives for teachers to complete a relevant qualification at masters level or above,¡± the report says.

It criticises universities for not engaging expert staff in teacher training.

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¡°Higher education institutions are important in bringing rigour and status to initial teacher training,¡± it says. ¡°With this in mind, we were disappointed that research-active staff do not make a greater contribution to training.

¡°We recommend that the Training and Development Agency and Ofsted pay greater attention to this aspect of provision when accrediting and inspecting initial teacher training providers.

¡°Providers¡¯ arrangements for developing the research skills and profiles of other teacher training staff should also be taken into consideration.¡±

john.morgan@tsleducation.com