Liberal Democrats Pledge: All Core Subject Lessons to Be Taught by Specialist Teachers

11.42.42am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 27th Apr 2005

Don Foster today joined his Liberal Democrat colleagues in pledging that the core subjects of English, maths, science, modern languages and information and communications technology all secondary school children will be taught by suitably qualified teachers.

The Liberal Democrats will allocate £230 million over the next Parliament to give additional training to 44,000 teachers in these core subjects.

Currently:

• Almost half a million lessons in core subjects are taught by non-specialist teachers;

• 44,000 teachers who are taking classes are not specialists in that core subject;

• 1 in 4 maths teachers have no maths qualification beyond A-level.

Don Foster said:

"Having been involved in education, in one way or another, for most of my life, I know there is no substitute for expert, enthusiastic teaching when it comes to bringing out the best in our children, and I want the whole profession to be equipped with the skills and support they need to do the job.

"But under Labour - eight years after the pledge to concentrate on 'education, education, education' - there still 40,000 teachers walking into classrooms in this country expected to lead a class in a subject where they have no more than an A level qualification themselves.

"Our guarantee is that in the core subjects - maths, English, science, modern languages and information and communications technology - all pupils will be taught by a properly qualified teacher who is expert in that subject, and we'll offer high-level in-service training to teachers who would like to teach a new subject.

"The figures for the local area prove the importance of qualified teachers - with hardly any non-qualified teachers in B&NES, our attainments are far higher than the national average.

"Our Pupils' Guarantee is part of the Liberal Democrat commitment to our young people. The Liberal Democrats are the Real Alternative at this election."

Ends

Notes to Editors

Figures relating to pupil attainment at GCSE level and percentage of teachers without qualified teacher status.

% pupils attaining 5+ A*-C % teachers without qualified teacher status

National Average 54.50 3.99%

Bath and North East Somerset 60.00 0.71%

Source DfES: Statistics of Education : School workforce in England, 2004 edition