Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase the number of (a) Russell Group graduates and (b) graduates with a first class degree working in (i) secondary schools and (ii) sixth form colleges in deprived communities.

The Government encourages top graduates to enter teaching by providing high-value or otherwise preferential bursaries to first-class degree-holders in primary and many secondary subjects.

The Government continues to support the growth of Teach First, a two-year teacher training programme recruiting high quality graduates. This includes 21% with first class degrees and 71% from Russell Group universities in 2016/17, to train in schools in some of the most deprived areas of the country. These include schools with sixth-forms.