Teaching gets graded

THE Teacher Training Agency and school inspection agency Ofsted have published proposals for monitoring teacher training standards from September.

The key change is a cut in the number of areas assessed to three: the quality of trainees' teaching against national standards for the award of qualified teacher status; the quality of training and assessment of trainees on the course; and the selection and quality of trainee intake by a school or institution.

Each category will be graded by inspectors from 1, for very good, down to 4, for poor quality. Teacher training should be at least of good quality, graded at level 2. A second inspection will be ordered where training provision is poor.