Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if the Government will make training on supporting looked-after children a mandatory part of teacher training.

All initial teacher training courses must be designed so that trainees can demonstrate that they meet all of the Teachers' Standards at the appropriate level. The Teachers’ Standards include a requirement that teachers have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including looked after children, and are able to use and evaluate distinctive teaching approaches to engage and support them.

In July 2016, the Department published ‘a framework of core content for initial teacher training’ developed by independent experts, aimed at supporting teacher trainers and trainees to have a better understanding of the essential elements of good Initial Teacher Training content. The Framework can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-government-response-to-carter-review.