Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect on delivery of initial teacher training of all schools becoming academies.

Academies have the same opportunities as maintained schools to become involved in teacher training, either through the School Direct programme, becoming a School Centred Initial Teacher Training provider (SCITT), or partnering with a university teacher training provider.

Academies also benefit from additional freedoms to recruit subject experts who do not have Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), but can add real value to the classroom. Schools that are part of multi-academy trusts (MATs) can also benefit from the ability to use their greater resources to attract the teachers they need.

Our proposals to replace QTS with a new, stronger accreditation will mean schools will be able to put those subject experts who have not been through ITT on a pathway to formal accreditation. We expect the vast majority of teachers will continue to train through ITT, particularly as more schools become directly involved in the selection and training of new teachers. 94 per cent of teachers in academies hold QTS, demonstrating that head teachers value high-quality ITT.