Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Simon Hughes (Liberal Democrat). It was answered by Lord Knight of Weymouth (Labour) on Monday, 30 June 2008 on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Teacher Recruitment

Question: What steps he has taken to recruit more teachers of (a) mathematics, (b) science and (c) modern foreign languages.

Answer: There are significant financial incentives for students taking a postgraduate certificate of education in priority subjects and courses to improve subject knowledge in mathematics, physics and chemistry. Transition to Teaching will encourage more career changers to teach mathematics, science and information and communications technology. Teach First's expansion will allow more top graduates the opportunity to teach shortage subjects in challenging schools. We have trained 4,000 new primary teachers with a languages specialism to support the development of language teaching in primary schools, which is expanding fast.

Secondary information