It is not a criterion for initial teacher training (ITT) allocations that there must be a particular type of teacher employed in a School Direct lead school.

The criteria for School Direct allocations¹ stipulate that

‘partnerships must satisfy themselves that schools have the capacity to undertake their responsibilities'.

ITT is inspected against the relevant Ofsted framework², which includes the criterion that trainees should benefit from subject and phase specific mentoring by experienced and expert mentors. A trainee in a School Direct school without a trained physics teacher could receive such training and mentoring from the lead school in the partnership, from another school within the partnership or from the accredited ITT provider.¹https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/210975/School_Direct_allocations_methodology_2014_to_2015.pdf²http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/initial-teacher-education-inspection-handbook

The latest data on School Direct applications¹ shows that there were 5,820 mathematics applications and 1,150 physics applications at English providers.

Graduate Teacher Training Registry (GTTR) data² shows that 2,480 mathematics and 660 physics applications were made in 2013. This includes higher education providers as well as school-centred initial teacher training consortia.

Other initial teacher training routes are available but records via these routes are not held centrally. The final position for 2013/14 enrolments and entrants will be published in the Initial Teacher Training (ITT) census on 26 November. That data will include not just the numbers recruited by GTTR and School Direct, but also the small number of providers who do not use GTTR to recruit and also projections of late, in-year starters.¹http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/s/school%20direct%20managennent%20information%209% 20september%202013.pdf²http://www.gttr.ac.uk/documents/stats/2013_gttr_ applicant_figures_October_to_august_exceptional_ england.pdf