'Students should all learn to be teachers'

Universities should integrate teacher training units into all undergraduate degree courses as part of a "fundamental review" of teacher training in higher education, the chief executive of the Teacher Training Agency said this week, writes Phil Baty.

Anthea Millett, addressing the TTA's annual general meeting, said the government's green paper on the future of the teaching profession had set a clear remit for radical change in universities.

One of the green paper's radical ideas is to offer undergraduate students a chance to gain accredited teacher training experience during other undergraduate courses. Undergraduates should be allowed to be paid as classroom assistants so they could gain significant chunks of postgraduate teaching qualifications before they graduate.

This, said Ms Millett, would "enable students to gain experience and recognition in a school while taking the relevant modules of a teaching course".

The Universities Council for the Education of Teachers said it was still preparing its response to the government's ideas.