MPs want 2:2 minimum degree for teaching career, but prefer MA

Entry requirements for teacher training in England are too low, a Commons education select committee has said.

The committee said graduates applying for post-graduate certificate of education (PGCE) courses should have at least a lower second class degree, and that teaching needs to be established as a Masters degree-level profession.

The committee's Training of Teachers report said: "It is of great concern to us that those with no A-levels or those with just a pass degree can gain entry to the teaching profession."

But a spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said that applicants without A-levels held alternative qualifications, reports the BBC.

The report also said that entrants to teaching courses should have a "sound grasp" of literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology (ICT) skills.

While students currently take a test in these subjects on completion of their teaching course, the committee recommended that the tests be made an entry requirement, and that they be made more difficult.

The committee also called for teachers to have a licence to practise, renewable on a regular basis to create opportunities to "weed out poor performers".