Written question asked by David Howarth (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 24 February 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 26 February 2010. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Thursday, 8 April 2010 on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Teachers: Qualifications

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what recent assessment he has made of the level of qualifications required for teachers at (a) post-16 colleges and (b) sixth forms attached to secondary schools; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: All teachers who joined the further education sector after September 2007 must, within five years of appointment, meet the standards for qualified teacher learning and skills (QTLS) status. Before they can teach unsupervised all new teachers must have attained the Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning sector award. All teachers in the further education sector must undertake at least 30 hours of continuing professional development each year.Teachers who teach in a sixth form that is part of a school must meet the standards for qualified teacher status (QTS) before taking up their post. A school may temporarily employ a teacher without QTS if no suitable teacher with QTS is available.Apart from these statutory requirements, schools and colleges may make individual decisions about any other qualifications they require from their staff for a particular role. My Department does not collect data on individual schools' recruitment criteria, and nor does the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills with respect to colleges.

Secondary information