Students with the worst exam results are accepted on to teacher training courses

Students with some of the worst exam results are getting places on teacher training courses, it was claimed yesterday.

A-level pupils accepted on to the courses have worse exam scores than applicants for any other degree except art, a leading think-tank warned.

Two-fifths of postgraduates given teacher training places received a 2:2 or lower in their first degree, and in one year 2,000 were accepted with a third or a mere pass from their university.

The right-wing think-tank Policy Exchange said teaching needed to improve its image if it was to attract a higher calibre of applicant and raise standards. Its head of education research, Sam Freedman, said: 'The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers.

'In England we have many excellent teachers  -  but not enough.

'We have to make the profession more appealing to the best graduates and also to high-fliers in other careers who are looking for a change.'

The Policy Exchange report found that successful applicants for teacher training degrees  -  the B.Ed  -  had an average A-level score of a B and two Cs, compared with the average for degree applicants of an A and two Bs.

Only 2.7 per cent of would-be teachers fail their training courses, a statistic which the report suggested meant the standard was far too low.

It suggested the B.Ed was scrapped and replaced with on-the-job-training. Fast-track schemes should be introduced to attract better candidates and schools should be able to opt out of the national pay agreement so they can offer the salaries they need to attract staff, the report recommended.

It found that undergraduates and professionals thought of teaching as similar to social work or nursing.

The report More Good Teachers said potential teachers were inevitably put off by the relatively low status of the job. More than a fifth of professionals said they would be deterred by its low salary.

Graham Holley, head of the Training and Development Agency for Schools, said teachers' pay had increased by almost a fifth since 1997.

He added: 'Academic qualifications are just one of the factors that are taken into account when assessing the potential of an applicant. We are interested in good teachers, not just good entry qualifications.'

The National Union of Teachers said it was wrong to judge candidates by A-level scores.

A spokesman said: 'They have made a massive mistake of assuming that because someone goes into an undergraduate course with a particular level of A-level grades, that's what you're going to be like when you come out.'