Education White Paper - Teacher Training

Find out what the government's November 2010 education white paper, The Importance of Teaching, means for teacher training and schools, as Mike Baker talks to education and union leaders.

The coalition government has put an emphasis on the quality of teachers, with the white paper proposing wide-ranging reform on how teachers are trained, including new assessments in aptitude, personality and resilience.

It has also put forward measures to toughen up existing literacy and numeracy tests for applicants and proposals to stop teacher training funding for graduates without a first or 2:1 degree.

Ministers want to promote employment-based training, with teaching schools similar to teaching hospitals in the NHS, and are expanding the Teach First programme.

The white paper also suggests the best universities could open 'Training Schools' where trainees learn the craft of teaching under supervision.

Mike also talks to the headteacher of Lampton School, already a pilot teaching school, and visits the Institute of Education in London to hear from Professor Chris Husbands.